Riley Baker joined the Washington State staff in November of 2023 as an Assistant Director of Athletic Communications. He serves as the primary media contact for women’s basketball, volleyball, and women’s rowing.
Before WSU, Baker served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Communications at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D. where he was promoted in May 2022 after joining the Yellow Jackets as Sports Information Director in June 2020.
There, he oversaw the BHSU Athletic Communications Department and was responsible for all communications duties. During his time there, Baker covered back-to-back men's basketball Final Four runs in both the 2022 and 2023 NCAA Tournaments, and also assisted in the hosting of several RMAC Championships, including the 2022 RMAC Men's Basketball Tournament and the 2021 RMAC Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Baker oversaw six national CSC Creative and Digital Design awards within the BHSU communications team, including three of his own. His 2021-22 men's basketball game notes were selected Best in the Nation in the College Division.
Baker has been a member of College Sports Communicators (CSC) since 2018, and currently serves on the CSC Creative and Digital Design Committee.
Prior to BHSU, Baker was a Sports Information Graduate Assistant at South Dakota State University from 2018 to 2020. There he served as the primary contact for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams as well as the equestrian team, while assisting with gameday duties for SDSU's other Division I programs.
Before SDSU, Baker served as an intern with Eastern Washington University’s sports information department in 2016 where he assisted the staff in several capacities, including social media efforts, writing for the website, updating record books and creating graphics.
Baker attended EWU for two years, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism, and covered athletics for the school newspaper both years while working closely with the athletics staff during that time. He also spent time covering local college and prep sports for The Spokesman-Review.
Baker earned his master's degree in sports and recreation administration from SDSU in 2020. He is a native of Kent, Wash. and currently lives in Pullman with his wife, Erica, and son, Maddux.
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