Wren Baker welcomed as WVU Director of Athletics

(Wren Baker introductory press conference)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University officially welcomed Wren Baker as the 13th Director of Athletics on Monday inside the Milan Puskar Center.

While Baker’s tenure doesn’t officially start for another two weeks, he outlined what helped lead him to Morgantown following a successful stint of more than six years in the same position at North Texas. Baker had previously been courted by other institutions in large part because he is viewed as a rising star in the profession for what he accomplished at North Texas.

“I won’t go into too many details about other schools and their searches, but definitely have had a lot of inquiries as we’ve had success at North Texas over the years. [Wife] Heather and I are both from Oklahoma, so where we live is within three hours of most of our family. That’s a pretty strong hurdle to overcome, so the bar is high when you’re looking at opportunities. This is really the first one where there was a consensus amongst our family like hey, this seems like a really great place to live and raise a family and a great institution. The more we researched, the more this one interested us. 

“There’s no question that the bar was going to be high for us to leave what we had. The people there have been really good to us, but this institution is that special. The more that we dove into it, the more we figured that out.”

The 44-year-old Baker is a native of Valliant, Oklahoma. After earning his undergraduate degree at Southeastern Oklahoma State and master’s at Oklahoma State, Baker served as a graduate assistant and operations assistant for the Cowboys’ men’s basketball program under legendary head coach Eddie Sutton.

He left behind the Cowboys to become a principal and athletic director for Valliant Public Schools, which at age 26, made him the youngest principal in Oklahoma history. 

“There was never a more intimidating time in my life then back when I was a 26-year-old principal,” Baker said. “When you look back, each of those steps really helped prepare me to get here today.”

There were plenty of stops between being a high school principal and guiding West Virginia’s athletic department, including serving as athletic director and men’s basketball coach at Rogers State. It was there where Baker started the school’s athletics program and coached the men’s basketball team to a 20-11 record.

Baker ultimately decided his future wasn’t in coaching and went on become athletics director at Northwest Missouri State, along with stints in the athletic departments at Memphis and Missouri before moving to North Texas.

“I’ve always cared about being in a profession where I had the opportunity to help people grow and develop,” Baker said. “Once I plugged into intercollegiate athletics, I really found that. I had an opportunity coach early and had some success there, but didn’t feel as comfortable and confident in that role as I did in the AD’s role. It is a different path, but I can look back now at that journey and each of those steps and how each of them prepared me.”

Baker was introduced Monday by President Gordon Gee, who had guidance in hiring Baker from search firm TurnkeyZRG, which the university paid $125,000 for its services.

Gee described the hiring process as one that included candidates from Power 5 and Group of 5 schools and said Baker was the pic among three finalists.

“We had great candidates and it was just readily apparent that the fit, person, structure and place where he should be is right here,” Gee said.

Baker said he has spoken to WVU football coach Neal Brown, who the university announced the same day as Baker’s hiring would return for his fifth season with the Mountaineers. Brown is 22-25 overall at West Virginia. 

Baker described his initial conversation with Brown after being hired at West Virginia as better than when the firs two met, as that came when Brown was coaching at Troy and led the Trojans to a win over North Texas in the 2017 New Orleans Bowl.

“He’s been great. We’ve had several conversations. I look forward to working with coach Brown and doing a thorough assessment of the program so we can determine, what we need and what are our gaps,” Baker said. “What hurdles can I eliminate? What resources do we need to procure? The football program is important to the university and to the state. 

“Coach Brown knows that and he wants to give West Virginia University and the state of West Virginia the kind of program that all fans would be proud of. I’m excited to join him, lock arms with him, get in the trenches with him and figure out what we need to do to eliminate hurdles for him and provide resources.“





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