MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Wren Baker couldn’t have imagined the challenges he would face over his first seven months as West Virginia’s athletic director.
Baker has earned his keep - and then some - by making multiple hiring decisions since coming from North Texas. There will be at least a few more by next spring, not to mention trying to keep West Virginia competitive as the Big 12 welcomes four new teams this season.
“I’ve loved it here,” Baker said. “Now, am I ready for some smoother waters to sail in? Of course. I’d love to see that. And I’m confident that we’ll have those.”
The latest move came late last month when Baker promoted assistant men’s basketball coach Josh Eilert to interim coach following the June 17 resignation of Bob Huggins. Baker decided against hiring a full-time coach due to the limited field of candidates in the summer, meaning he’ll have another decision to make after the 2023-24 season.
“I have full faith in Wren in terms of his leadership,” Eilert said. “He’s a very bright individual. He keeps his head on straight. It’s nice to be able to work with someone like that and feel a comfort level that you know the program’s going in a very good direction.”
Huggins already had been disciplined in May after the Hall of Fame coach used a homophobic slur to refer to Xavier fans while also denigrating Catholics during a radio interview with a Cincinnati station. Huggins agreed to a three-game suspension, a $1 million salary reduction and sensitivity training.
A month later, Huggins was gone, resigning after a drunken driving arrest in Pittsburgh.
Suddenly, Baker was getting swamped with suggestions on how to proceed with hiring Huggins’ successor while being told by college coaching friends to be prepared for schools wanting to purge the basketball roster in the transfer portal. Baker used a full week before deciding to go the temporary route on a coaching hire. Meanwhile, a 30-day portal window for West Virginia players to decide what to do closes in mid-July.
Baker wasn’t the center of attention when he was hired last November. On the day of the announcement, Baker, West Virginia President Gordon Gee and others decided to give embattled football coach Neal Brown another chance after finishing the 2022 season 5-7.
The football team has a 22-25 record under Brown, the worst four-year stretch since it went 17-27 from 1976-79. This fall, Baker could end up giving Brown the boot if the Mountaineers have a fifth straight underperforming season - or keep Brown if the team sees significant improvement.
Baker also had to hire a new women’s basketball coach after Dawn Plitzuweit left in late March after one season for Minnesota. Two weeks later, Baker hired Stephen F. Austin’s Mark Kellogg.
“We’ve had a lot of turmoil these first few months,” Baker said. “But I also understand it’s not because anything’s wrong with WVU. This is a great job. Great fan passion. We have resources. We have a great institution. We command the presence of the state.
“I’ve not had one day of regret. Now, I’ve had days that were difficult days on the job. But that comes with jobs like this. If you’re going to be in a leadership position, you’ve got to be prepared for those.”
That also means the changing Big 12 landscape. Since joining in 2012, West Virginia has been the league’s eastern outlier, traveling 1,000 miles or more to most of its road contests. The Mountaineers will be rejoined this season by former Big East member Cincinnati. The other new Big 12 schools are BYU, Central Florida and Houston.
“When you look at having Cincinnati in the league, that’s going to create a great rivalry over time,” Baker said. “It won’t happen overnight. And then UCF, we have a lot of alums and donors in Florida. So that’s going to give us a chance to connect with them, another eastern-based team. I’m excited about the future of the Big 12.”
Baker‘s approach to his job is exemplified through a crystal frog that he keeps in his office. It was given to him when he was hired as AD at North Texas in 2016 by a donor at Missouri, where he had been an assistant athletic director the previous year.
“He goes, you know what that means, don’t you?’” Baker said. “I said, no. He said, ‘when you’re a leader, you can’t look backwards. What can a frog not do? It can’t hop backwards. It can only go forward.’”
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