Stuart initially grew up in England, while his father was coaching at Aston Villa,[2] before the family moved to Scotland, where Bill had managerial jobs with East Fife and Raith Rovers.

[3] As a result of his background, Baxter is variously described as being English,[4] Scottish[3][5] or an Anglo-Scot[6] in the media; he has commented on his identity, saying, "If I'm mentioned for a job in Scotland, they call me a Scot.

Baxter then moved to Australia, Sweden and the United States respectively with South Melbourne FC, Helsingborgs IF and San Diego Sockers.

The following year he landed a larger managerial role with Portuguese team Vitória de Setúbal before returning to Sweden for a three-year stint at Halmstads BK between 1988 and 1991.

He took over as manager of Kobe only days after an earthquake caused devastation in the city and spent two weeks living in a makeshift caravan in the club car park.

As guests of the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup, he led South Africa to the Quarter Finals before being eliminated via a penalty shootout by Panama.

In the first season under his management, Amakhosi completed the double, finishing first in the 2012–13 Premier Soccer League and defeating Supersport United 1–0 to win the Nedbank Cup.

[25] The 2013–14 South African Premier Division campaign ended in disappointment with the soweto based side failing to register a trophy despite occupying the top position in the league for the majority of the season.

See Log for the previous League campaign:[26] Chiefs, at the beginning of the 2014–15 South African Premier Division were drawn against Mpumalanga Black Aces in their first game of the cup competition the MTN 8,[27] a match which they won 4–0 to progress to the semi-finals where they beat the defending champions Platinum Stars 2–0 and 3–0 respectively in both legs to set up a final with their Soweto counterparts and rivals Orlando Pirates.

Amakhosi's 10th victory in as many matches in all competitions this term was inspired by an unlikely source, captain Tefu Mashamaite, who wore the armband in Itumeleng Khune's absence and vindicated coach Baxter's decision to give him the role ahead of the more favoured Reneilwe Letsholonyane.

Mashamaite, who captained his former club Bidvest Wits to the Nedbank Cup title in 2010, headed home the winner just before the half-hour mark against a Pirates side that seemed hypnotized for the better part of this match [28] Baxter won his third trophy at the club in just his third season to start off yet another season with the MTN 8 trophy on Saturday 20 September 2014.

[30] On 9 June 2015, Baxter joined Turkish club Genclerbirligi,[31][32] but his contract was mutually terminated on 24 August 2015 after defeats in the first two games of the 2015–16 season.

[41] On 19 June 2020, Baxter was announced as the head coach of Indian Super League club Odisha FC, on a two-year contract.