Catching up with WVU Athletic Director Wren Baker after a year of change.
In our Fall 2024 issue, we featured WVU’s new athletic director, Wren Baker, after just a few months on the job. He shared his vision for the future of WVU athletics and the challenges of competing in the ever-changing world of major college athletics.
The past 12 months have brought a lot of change and excitement to Morgantown—and that calls for a follow-up chat with Baker on the outlook for WVU sports.
“We have seen a lot of changes, but I think we are in a really good spot,” says Baker. “We have been able to thrive. A national championship in rifle and a runner-up in cross country. Baseball and women’s basketball had huge seasons. Our soccer program had a great year. We are pointed in the right direction.”
Success in sports other than football and basketball has had significant positive effects on the perception and popularity of all WVU sports, Baker says. Men’s baseball, women’s basketball, and both men’s and women’s soccer have all had terrific seasons, and attendance at these sports has risen dramatically. National recognition for these programs has also helped establish WVU as a multi-sport power in the Big 12.
“Every time we have a team that is having a high level of success, people rally around them,” he says. “The success of the baseball program has been huge in keeping fans engaged throughout the spring.”
The biggest news over the off-season is the return of Rich Rodriguez as head football coach. Rodriguez was 60–26 in seven seasons (2001–2007) at West Virginia, winning the Big East Conference championship four times (2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007), and he was named the Big East’s Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2005. After stints at Michigan, Arizona, and Jacksonville State, he is back to lead the Mountaineers again.
When Rodriguez departed for Michigan in 2007, many WVU fans were critical of the move and the way in which it was handled. However, after 18 years, Baker says the majority of the response to the hire has been positive and support for the program is strong. In fact, season ticket sales are at an all-time high since 2013. He expects a tremendous game atmosphere and fan energy at Mountaineer home games this season.
“We conducted an intense search and probably a more in-depth search than we normally do. Probably because Coach Rodriguez was in the pool,” says Baker. “We vetted twice as many candidates as we normally would and, at the end of that, we felt very confident that Coach Rodriguez was the right person to lead the program.”
As in the recent past, the biggest challenge facing WVU and similar-size programs is the ability to continue to generate more revenue for their programs. Name, image, and likeness contracts and the transfer portal have added tremendous financial burden on universities competing with the top athletic programs in the country.
“Our focus is how we can grow our revenues in ways that diversify us,” says Baker. “We need to advance our commercial opportunities outside of just ticket sales. Revenue will be the key to our success in the future, as we have to share more revenue with student athletes.”
READ MORE STORIES FROM OUR FALL 2025 ISSUE
Leave a Reply