Wren Baker to lead WVU Athletics

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University has named Wren Baker as its subsequent vice chairman and director of Intercollegiate Athletics.
 
Baker comes to Morgantown from the University of North Texas, the place he has been the vice chairman and athletics director since 2016. With earlier stops at Missouri, Memphis, Northwest Missouri and Rogers State, Baker brings greater than 20 years of expertise to WVU as its thirteenth director of Athletics.
 
“I am thrilled to welcome Wren Baker to the West Virginia University family as our new athletic director and I have no doubt his personality and energy will connect with our student-athletes and coaches, as well as our campus community and alumni,” President Gordon Gee stated.
 
“When we began this search, we were determined to find someone who could lead in the modern realities of intercollegiate athletics and build on the legacy of his predecessors,” Gee added. “We wanted someone who clearly understood the dynamics of a fast-changing athletics environment and had found success being at the forefront of this new world that includes managing NIL and the portal. We looked at a number of well-qualified candidates and, at the end of the day, Wren met every one of our needs.”
 
Baker could have oversight of 18 varsity sports activities, a division finances of greater than $90 million, roughly 250 workers and almost 500 student-athletes.
 
“I am incredibly grateful to President Gee, Rob Alsop, the search committee and Board of Governors for the opportunity to serve as vice president and director of athletics at West Virginia University,” Baker stated. “WVU boasts a powerful brand reputation and a storied academic and athletic history. My family and I can’t wait to get to Morgantown to build relationships and help take Mountaineer Athletics to even greater heights.”
 
At North Texas, seven packages (males’s cross nation, volleyball, girls’s soccer, soccer, males’s basketball, girls’s golf and softball) mixed to win 17 convention or division championships throughout Baker’s tenure, and the general athletic division’s profitable share within the final yr was the perfect within the fashionable period. In 2019, each workforce achieved a profitable season for the primary time in class historical past. He led 18 head teaching searches, and his hires have a mixed profitable share of almost 70%.
 
UNT student-athletes excelled within the classroom beneath Baker’s management, posting prime APR scores and setting 4 consecutive division Graduation Success Rate information. Every workforce recorded a cumulative GPA of three.0 or larger with the Spring 2022 division GPA hitting a 3.206 common.
 
Baker additionally led document fundraising years at North Texas. The college registered its 4 finest fundraising years in its historical past, and the general prime 5 largest items at UNT got here beneath Baker’s management. He guided North Texas athletics to a college document for fundraising in a single yr, almost doubling the earlier division document.
 
Ticket income elevated by 125% beneath Baker, and soccer attendance grew by 71%, whereas males’s and ladies’s basketball crowds grew by greater than 60%. Additional achievements at North Texas included a five-year strategic plan, new 20-year amenities grasp plan and profitable contracts for multi-media rights, licensing, attire and gear.
 
Originally from Valliant, Oklahoma, Baker earned his bachelor’s diploma in schooling from Southeastern Oklahoma State in 2001 the place he was a member of the honors program. He went on to earn his grasp’s diploma in schooling management from Oklahoma State in 2003. He and his spouse, Heather, a Bokchito, Oklahoma, native, have two daughters, Addisyn and Reagan.

Baker begins his duties at WVU on Dec. 19 beneath a six-year settlement by means of Dec. 31, 2028, and can earn a yearly compensation of $1.1M, plus incentives.

 

WVU’s Directors of Athletics:

Anthony Chez – 1904-13

E.R. Sweetland – 1913-14

George Pyle – 1914-17

Harry Stansbury – 1917-38

Roy “Legs” Hawley – 1938-54

Robert “Red” Brown – 1954-72

Leland Byrd – 1972-78

Richard Martin – 1978-81

Fred Schaus – 1981-89

Ed Pastilong – 1989 – 2010

Oliver Luck – 2010-2014

Shane Lyons – 2014-22

Wren Baker – 2022-