West Virginia has hired Wren Baker as new athletic director

[cousin oliver]

West Virginia has named Wren Baker as its new athletic director, the school announced on Wednesday.

Baker was the athletic director at North Texas and has emerged as one of the most respected young administrators in college sports since arriving there in 2016. Sources told ESPN that Baker agreed to a six-year deal to lead the Mountaineers' athletic department.

Baker oversaw North Texas' impending transition to the American Athletic Conference from Conference USA and helped build North Texas' facilities to some of the best at the Group of 5 level.

During Baker's tenure there, North Texas has reached the second round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and gone to bowl games in six of the past seven seasons. North Texas (7-5) plays at UTSA this weekend in the Conference USA football championship game.

Baker's hires at North Texas include men's basketball coach Grant McCasland, who has either won the regular season or league tournament in Conference USA the last three years.

For Baker, the appeal of the West Virginia job is the opportunity to lead a Big 12 program. He's a graduate of Oklahoma State, where he served as a graduate assistant coach for Eddie Sutton.

Baker has been choosy about his next step over the years, and has remained at North Texas in part because of that school's aggressiveness to keep him. Baker's latest known salary is just under $800,000 per year, which puts him among the highest-paid athletic directions in the Group of 5. His compensation from West Virginia isn't known yet.

read more:  https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35146223/west-virginia-expected-hire-wren-baker-ad-sources-say

[DentonLurker]

Wren Baker’s leaving?

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, cousin oliver said:

West Virginia has named Wren Baker as its new athletic director, the school announced on Wednesday.

Baker was the athletic director at North Texas and has emerged as one of the most respected young administrators in college sports since arriving there in 2016. Sources told ESPN that Baker agreed to a six-year deal to lead the Mountaineers' athletic department.

Baker oversaw North Texas' impending transition to the American Athletic Conference from Conference USA and helped build North Texas' facilities to some of the best at the Group of 5 level.

During Baker's tenure there, North Texas has reached the second round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and gone to bowl games in six of the past seven seasons. North Texas (7-5) plays at UTSA this weekend in the Conference USA football championship game.

Baker's hires at North Texas include men's basketball coach Grant McCasland, who has either won the regular season or league tournament in Conference USA the last three years.

For Baker, the appeal of the West Virginia job is the opportunity to lead a Big 12 program. He's a graduate of Oklahoma State, where he served as a graduate assistant coach for Eddie Sutton.

Baker has been choosy about his next step over the years, and has remained at North Texas in part because of that school's aggressiveness to keep him. Baker's latest known salary is just under $800,000 per year, which puts him among the highest-paid athletic directions in the Group of 5. His compensation from West Virginia isn't known yet.

read more:  https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35146223/west-virginia-expected-hire-wren-baker-ad-sources-say

Skipper?  Is that you?

[NT93]

First I’ve heard of this.  Is it official??

[Texas Stranger]

Why did no one else post a thread on this?

[greenminer]

1 minute ago, Texas Stranger said:

Why did no one else post a thread on this?

I don't know.  I hope no one else posts the news in this thread, and we can see separate, dedicated threads for every single Wren-to-WVU link we can digest and discuss.