Duke basketball general manager Rachel Baker, center right, and Will Avery watch during the Blue Devils’ game against Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.
Ethan Hyman
ehyman@newsobserver.com
Duke added a new face to its basketball staff last summer by hiring former Nike staffer Rachel Baker as the program’s first general manager.
On the latest ACC Now podcast, News & Observer sportswriter Steve Wiseman chats with Baker on the changing landscape of college athletics, her role in helping Duke players navigate and cultivate NIL opportunities and why she chose to take on this new role with Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer.
Steve Wiseman was named Raleigh News & Observer and Durham Herald-Sun sports editor in May 2025. He covered Duke athletics, beginning in 2010, prior to his current assignment. In the Associated Press Sports Editors national contest, he placed in the top 10 in beat writing in 2019, 2021 and 2022, breaking news in 2019, event coverage in 2025 and explanatory writing in 2018. Before coming to Durham in 2010, Steve worked for The State (Columbia, SC), Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.), The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), Charlotte Observer and Hickory (NC) Daily Record covering beats including the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints, University of South Carolina athletics and the S.C. General Assembly. He’s won numerous state-level press association awards. Steve graduated from Illinois State University in 1989.