Trent John Baalke ( ), (born February 14, 1964), is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

executive who is the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

Early years

Rosendale, Wisconsin Rosendale is a village in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,063 at the 2010 census. The village is located partially within the Town of Rosendale and partially within the Town of Springvale. History The village ...

native, Baalke earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in health and physical education at Bemidji State University, where he played

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

and was an All-Northern Sun Conference and All-Midwest Region honoree.

Executive career

Early career

Baalke's worked as a scout for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

from 1998 to 2000. In 2001, Baalke was hired by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

and spent four years with the team, first as a national scout and then as college scouting coordinator.

San Francisco 49ers

In 2005, Baalke was hired by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

as their western region scout and in 2008, was promoted to director of player personnel, a position largely responsible for overseeing the team's college scouting operations. Baalke was chosen to lead the 49ers in the

2010 NFL Draft The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, with the firs ...

, in place of

Scot McCloughan Scot G. McCloughan (born March 1, 1971) is an American football executive. He was formerly the general manager of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins, as well as a senior personnel executive for the Seattle Seahawks, helping the 49ers ...

, and a month later was given the title of vice president of player personnel. His official promotion to general manager came shortly after the firing of Mike Singletary as head coach of the 49ers, in anticipation of needing an official general manager to lure

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh (; born December 23, 1963) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current and 20th head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986. He play ...

away from

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

for the vacant coaching position. In January 2012, Baalke was named

PFWA The Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA), sometimes known as Pro Football Writers Association, is an organization that purports to be " heofficial voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve ...

Executive of the Year for the 2011 season, after being credited for transforming a 6–10 team into a 13–3 team in his first season as general manager. The next month he received a contract extension through 2016. After a 2014 season filled with reports that Baalke and then-49ers coach

had been clashing, the 49ers parted ways with Harbaugh and promoted defensive line coach

Jim Tomsula James Andrew Tomsula (born April 14, 1968) is an American football coach and head coach of the Rhein Fire of the European League of Football. Serving as a defensive coach throughout his career, Tomsula has also been the head coach for the Rhein F ...

to the head coaching position. Tomsula led the 49ers to a 5–11 record in 2015 and was fired on January 3, 2016. On January 14, 2016,

Chip Kelly Charles Edward Kelly (born November 25, 1963) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the UCLA Bruins. He came to prominence as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks from 2009 to 2012, whom he led to four consecutive BCS bowl game a ...

was hired as the head coach of the 49ers and led them to a 2–14 record, one of the worst conference records in their franchise history and their worst season since 2004. This led to Baalke and Kelly both being relieved of duties on January 1, 2017.

NFL

In 2017, Baalke became a football operations consultant for the NFL. In this advisory role for NFL, he worked on game-related matters, player development, evaluation, and officiating video review.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On February 4, 2020, he was hired as director of player personnel of the

. On November 29, 2020, Baalke was promoted to interim general manager following the firing of David Caldwell, and was retained for the role fulltime after the season.

References

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baalke, Trent Living people American football linebackers Bemidji State Beavers football players Jacksonville Jaguars executives New York Jets personnel North Dakota State Bison football coaches San Francisco 49ers executives South Dakota State Jackrabbits football coaches Washington Redskins personnel National Football League general managers 1964 births People from Rosendale, Wisconsin