West Virginia Hires North Texas AD Wren Baker

The soccer teaching place at West Virginia is now within the fingers of Wren Baker.

Baker, the 44-year-old North Texas athletic director, has been employed as West Virginia’s new AD, sources inform Sports activities Illustrated. The transfer is on the way in which to being finalized. Baker replaces Shane Lyons in what was a surprising dismissal earlier this fall. Lyons is now deputy athletic director at Alabama.

Baker, an Oklahoma native, spent greater than six years at North Texas, most just lately guiding the Imply Inexperienced into a brand new convention, the AAC, which it should be part of subsequent 12 months. He’s a famous fundraiser who’s led document fundraising years at 4 totally different universities, together with his stops at UNT and as a deputy at Memphis and Missouri.

A likable marketer and promoter who’s properly revered amongst colleagues, Baker’s most obvious first activity in Morgantown is soccer. Coach Neal Brown, employed by Lyons after successful 35 video games in 4 years at Troy, is 22–25 in 4 seasons atop the Mountaineers’ program. Brown obtained a brand new contract two years in the past that extends by means of 2026 and comes with a buyout that at present sits at $16 million.

WVU president Gordon Gee introduced earlier this month {that a} new athletic director would consider Brown and decide on his future. Whereas a path exists in Brown’s persevering with on the faculty, Baker should make that call. He has little time, particularly if he decides to half methods with the coach, which many consider is just not the expectation.

West Virginia can be getting into the teaching market late. The switch portal opens subsequent week, and early nationwide signing day is lower than a month away. The teaching hiring cycle has accelerated tremendously, with lots of the prime coaches already having discovered new jobs or having signed extensions at their present faculty. Three Energy 5 packages—Stanford, Cincinnati and Colorado—have lively searches ongoing.

It’s why lots of these related to this system consider that Baker might take a 12 months to guage Brown.

Brown’s one successful season got here in 2020, when the Mountaineers went 6–4. In one of many extra aggressive conferences in America from prime to backside, WVU slipped under expectations this 12 months regardless of signing former USC and Georgia quarterback JT Daniels. The Mountaineers completed 5–7. Nonetheless, they went on a late-season run, beating Oklahoma and successful at Oklahoma State after beginning the season 0–2 with a loss to Pitt within the last minutes and towards Kansas in time beyond regulation.

Regardless of its historic soccer competitiveness, West Virginia is among the harder jobs within the Energy 5. It has one of many lowest budgets among the many 65 Energy 5 packages (51st) and Morgantown is each distant in location and compared to its Massive 12 members. WVU’s closest convention staff is 800 miles away.

In some ways, the Mountaineers have been adrift throughout realignment, denied membership to 2 extra regionally wise leagues such because the ACC and the SEC. WVU athletics hasn’t been the identical since its transfer away from the Massive East, the place its soccer program lorded over many convention mates in spending and historic success. Below coaches Wealthy Rodriguez, Invoice Stewart and Dana Holgorsen, the Mountaineers gained at the very least 9 video games eight instances in a 10-year stretch beginning in 2002. Since becoming a member of the Massive 12 in ’12, they’ve reached 9 wins as soon as (’16).

Nonetheless, West Virginia has a prideful, vocal following and a deep, wealthy historical past. It owns a doubtful but in addition spectacular stat: No main school soccer program has gained extra video games in its historical past with out having claimed a nationwide championship than West Virginia. In a quasi-national title sport in 1988, WVU misplaced the Fiesta Bowl to Notre Dame. In 2007, the Mountaineers have been en path to the BCS title sport after they misplaced at residence to rival Pitt as 28-point favorites.

On the prime of its athletic division, it now has a brand new face for the primary time since 2015, when Lyons changed Oliver Luck.

Baker has confirmed to be a pushed administrator who’s been approached through the years by a number of Energy 5 faculties, turning away curiosity due to the safety at UNT. He made round $800,000 per 12 months as one of many Group of 5’s highest-paid ADs.

As a deputy at Memphis overseeing soccer, Baker labored intently with coach Justin Fuente, the previous Virginia Tech coach who’s out of the trade for now. At Missouri, he assisted in teaching searches in soccer and baseball and led the athletic division’s exterior relations staff, together with growth, advertising, licensing, the ticket workplace and strategic communications.

Because the AD at NCAA Division II energy Northwest Missouri State, he secured the most important present within the athletic division’s historical past. At his first AD job at Rogers State, he additionally coached basketball for one season, main the staff to a 20–11 document. He obtained his grasp’s diploma from Oklahoma State, the place he was a graduate assistant after which basketball operations assistant for legendary coach Eddie Sutton.

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