All American may focus on talented athletes like main character Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), but The CW drama knows that behind every athlete is (hopefully) a kind and intelligent coach who pushes them to be the best they can be. Thankfully, All American has some special coaches, including Coach Montes (Kamar de los Reyes) and Billy Baker (Taye Diggs).
Beverly Hills High coach Billy Baker cares about winning, like any coach would, but he’s compassionate and is definitely aware of what’s important in life. This was a great role for Diggs after playing Dr. Sam Bennett (who is just as loveable) on Private Practice and starring in a ton of movies. What happened to the popular coach on All American?
Did Billy Baker leave All American?
Billy Baker left All American in season 5, in episode 11 called “Time,” when he died. We never thought that Taye Diggs would stop portraying this character since he’s a key part of the Beverly Hills High staff (and a wonderful husband and father). But the actor explained to TV Line that it was his idea. When All American‘s fourth season was underway, he decided that he wouldn’t stay on the series that much longer.
Nkechi Okoro Carroll, the showrunner, told Variety about this plotline, “It became a mutual thing of, we have an opportunity to do something that no one is going to expect. Does this feel like the right time to do it? We both felt like it was.”
While Taye Diggs knew his character was exiting All American and was aware of Billy Baker’s death ahead of time, it sounds like it was still sad for him to let go of this character. And we totally feel the same way.
If we had to guess how Billy Baker would die, we would say he would be helping others, and that’s exactly what happened. When he and his team are taking a bus ride, which of course they’ve done hundreds of times before, they get into a terrible accident and almost go off a cliff. When Billy attempts to find Jabari (Simeon Daise) to make sure that he’s okay, we find out from Billy’s son Jordan (Michael Evans Behling) that Billy has passed away.
We’re still thinking about Billy Baker’s All American death because of the love he had for others in his life and the strong, meaningful connections he made. Billy’s children Jordan, Olivia (Samantha Logan), and Spencer are all lost without him, along with his wife Laura (Monét Mazur). But the show does a good job of showing that even when someone passes away, they are still very much present and still teach their loved ones a lot of crucial lessons.
When did Taye Diggs’ character Billy Baker come back to All American?
Since Taye Diggs explained that he wanted to return to All American and didn’t think that this was truly the final time he would portray Billy Baker, we hoped he would come back in some way, shape, or form. We were all happy to see Billy again in season 6, episode 8, “Kids See Ghosts,” in which Billy’s children read letters he penned for them, and experience a connection that they really needed.
These letters serves as a catalyst for the children to take some big risks and figure out the next phase of their lives, which is beautiful to watch. Olivia finds more confidence as she writes a book about her dad (aww!), and Jordan realizes he should follow his dream of playing for the NFL. It’s interesting and bittersweet watching these characters begin to feel more positive about the future. Although seeing Billy read his journal to his kids could have been super corny, it was definitely better than if he came back as a ghost. Spencer also gets the opportunity to look at the journal that Billy kept, and afterward, he’s able to be there for another student named Deion (Taiv Lee) who is having a hard time with his family.
While the spinoff All American: Homecoming was canceled (and we’re still sad), All American was renewed for season 7. Maybe we’ll see more of Billy Baker, even if we just get one scene.