Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU’s Baker Covers Many Topics During Wednesday’s News Conference
August 23, 2023 04:47 PM | Football, General, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University vice president and director of athletics Wren Baker spent nearly 40 minutes discussing department issues with media members Wednesday afternoon inside the Milan Puskar Center team room.
It was his first formal on-campus visit with the media since he announced the appointment of Josh Eilert as interim men's basketball coach earlier this summer.
"There is no real agenda for the day other than just to have a chance and sit with you and answer any questions that you may have," he began. "It's been an eventful summer, certainly at WVU and the athletic department, but also in the Big 12.
"I've had a great summer; got my girls moved here and everybody is happy and healthy, and they are getting all settled in," Baker added.
Before taking questions, Baker mentioned a few items that are on the horizon for WVU athletics. At the top of his list is a senior staff restructuring that he anticipates announcing in the coming days.
Earlier this summer, Baker announced the hiring of Ben Murray to his senior leadership team as deputy director of athletics, and he will once again oversee the Mountaineer Athletic Club after spending the last two years at Nebraska.
"My goal is to restructure in a way that allows more efficient and timely decision making – and also not have quite as many decision points directed at me because we have a need for revenue, and I need to be a part of solving that by getting out and seeing our donors," he explained. "What I don't want is to bottleneck decisions back on campus.
"We are probably a couple months behind where I hoped to be on some of our initiatives, just because of some of the issues that we've dealt with," he added.
Baker said his strategic visioning and initiatives platform is nearing completion, with deputy athletics director Steve Uryasz being the department point person, and will involve all aspects of WVU athletics.
"We will really lay out a four- or five-year plan of these are the things that we want to fix and the timing and the organization of how we want to do that," he said. "Then, we will assess our facilities. We've done a lot of facility work the last few years, and we know we have more work to do."
Baker listed West Virginia's passionate and loyal fanbase as its biggest strength.
"We have a tremendous following and any metric the Big 12 has shown us where they do evaluations of other programs, we are at or near the top of that grouping," Baker noted, adding one of the department's biggest weaknesses is an inability to more adequately monetize WVU's loyal fanbase.
"For example, last weekend we had our 1891 Club event in here, and I had two or three people ask me about buying suites. Well, we don't have any suites to sell so we've got to figure that out. Not only is that a revenue problem for us now, but we really cut ourselves off with some prospects in the future."
Baker was asked about the biggest summer news item – the Big 12 expanding to 16 next year with the additions of Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. Those four schools will now give the Big 12 members in all four time zones and become a national sports league.
"Commissioner (Brett) Yormark is really an excellent communicator, so he had regular meetings throughout that process, and we had a high level of communications until they got near the goal line, but that last day or two, as everyone was experiencing the ups and downs on social media, I was right there with you," he said. "But when you look at where we were at in the Big 12 two years ago, the league was on the verge of extinction.
"Now, when you look at where we're at today, in my opinion the conference is clearly in the top three of the most stable, best-positioned conferences in college sports moving forward. It's a remarkable job by the leadership in the Big 12 when all of that happened," he said. "Ultimately, our group was pretty aligned in if we could get the four corner schools that made the most sense for the future of the league.
"I think we're a big winner in this round of conference realignment, and as you look at what's happening in the TV (industry) and there being shrinking resources for the first time really in history, but the markets we picked up and the penetration in those markets, I think we are well positioned for the future."
Baker fielded a variety of questions, including:
* West Virginia's revenue challenges in comparison to the rest of the programs in the Big 12 …
"We do not have a spending problem here; we have a revenue problem. If you compare us across a variety of spending categories, we're very efficient with the dollars that we have, but we've got to eat, breathe, sleep and think 24/7, 365 how can we bring in more revenue?
"If you go back and look historically, and when our teams across the board have been the most successful, is when we were around the average or a little bit higher in the league in terms of budget," he said. "We're not there right now, and we've got to find a way to do that. There are lot of buckets, and not all of them are big buckets, but they all add up. My job is to find a way for our coaches to have the tools in their tool belt that they need to be successful."
* His personal conversation with Arizona State athletics director Ray Anderson after he jokingly commented that he is not planning to go to Morgantown once the Sun Devils join the Big 12 …
"We had a great conversation, and I've known Ray for a pretty good while. I suspect he didn't mean that the way it was taken, but it definitely hit a sore spot with all of us who are proud of West Virginia," Baker said. "I'm a champion of people giving West Virginia a chance as a place to live, as a place to visit and a place to vacation.
"It is a beautiful place with some wonderful people and not enough people know about it," he said. "He was gracious and kind and told me that he probably wouldn't get a very warm welcome when he comes to Morgantown. I told him I think it will be the opposite, 'You better tell your logistics people how you are going to be able to get all those pepperoni rolls home. All West Virginians want is for people to give them a chance and you will love it here.'"
* His preference on future football scheduling …
"It's partly contingent on what the conference schedule looks like. In this environment, where we have nine conference games, that means some years you are going to have five home games and some years four. I think it's important to the state and to Morgantown that we always have a minimum of six home games, and we'd like to have seven. So, when you start to do the math that restricts some of your opportunities, which means that one FCS game is important," he explained. "I've said this before, but I think having a Power 5 regional rival on the schedule every year is important, and we would probably prefer that would be Pitt.
"In the years when it's not Pitt, who is another regional rival that we can take on? Then, can we get a meaningful Group of 5 FBS opponent."
* The potential additional expense of traveling Olympic sport teams to Utah, Arizona and Colorado beginning next year …
"Our financial folks in the athletic department are starting to model some of that out. This is happening so fast that we're going to know pretty quick what those schedules have to look like, and listen, there is a possibility depending upon how we schedule in certain sports that we could reduce costs," he explained. "If we can lock in and play in divisions, you could potentially cut some costs, but there is also a lot of miles out there where it could go up.
"We have to drill down on that because it does affect us in a more disadvantageous way than others who might be more centrally located in the league," he added.
* The naming rights possibilities for some of West Virginia's athletic venues as a source of additional revenue …
"We are exploring this in all our venues and have had some third parties engaged to do some valuations on that. Certainly, the juice needs to be worth the squeeze because people get attached to certain names on venues, and I get that," he said. "But they also get attached to winning and winning takes money. That's something that we're evaluating and definitely are going to look at, and I think there is an opportunity for us, given the reach of our brand.
"If an advertiser comes in the state of West Virginia, there is no better organization to partner with than WVU athletics. We have the biggest reach of any organization in this state," he said.
*His opinion on football coach Neal Brown and interim men's basketball coach Josh Eilert heading into an important year for WVU athletics …
"I've been really impressed with not just coach Brown, but all our coaches here. I've spent one-on-one time with all of them," he said. "I've made all the scrimmages and several practices and I'm excited. I feel good about where we're at. I feel good about the team and their resolve. I think the prognosticators not having very high expectations has helped motivate them, and I think it's helped motivate all of us, really.
"But there are a lot of things done right inside this program. My core belief is you have to value the person over the player, and eventually, you will get the full ability out of the player. This staff does a great job of pouring in to develop people. There is a lot of positive things going on with this program, but we know we have to win games and coach Brown has said that. I read his commentary all the time.
"As for men's basketball, coach Eilert has done everything we could have asked him to do and hoped that he would do. During that time, there were lots of people offering lots of opinions on what we should do and the timing of it," Baker said. "During the coaching change, when the portal reopened for everybody, there was going to be some roster attrition. That was going to happen no matter what we did or how quickly we did it. I knew that, and we were dealing with that in real time, but we tried to move as quickly as we could to make the best decisions we could. Then we tried to give coach Eilert everything he needs to be successful.
"He's made some additions to his coaching staff, they've made some additions to the roster, and I think up to this point he's handled everything as well as we could possibly ask," Baker said.
* His thoughts on the wellness of student-athletes potentially being required to make frequent cross-country trips in different time zones when the conference expands to 16 teams …
"I think there is a way for us to come together as a conference and look at scheduling that doesn't send your track, soccer and volleyball teams all the way to Utah to play every year," he said. "We have 16 teams, and everybody doesn't sponsor every sport, but that gives us potentially two divisions of eight and potentially four pods of four. There are a lot of creative things that we can do, and we have an obligation as a conference to explore this.
"I have been very consistent in raising the point that there are ways for us to cut considerable expense, and more importantly, to keep student-athletes in the classroom and out of hotels and airports. This expansion does not have to mean we have to travel farther. In my opinion, we could actually travel less because we have more teams to afford West Virginia not to play everybody round-robin."
* His opinion on continuing the Pitt football and men's basketball series once the current contracts expire …
"I've known (Pitt athletics director) Heather Lyke for probably eight or nine years now, and I've told her we want to play as much and as long as they want to play," he said. "I called her several months back to express our interest in continuing the basketball series. Football didn't come up at that time because it was more of a basketball conversation, but I know there is willingness on our part to extend in pretty much every sport. I believe that's the case on their end, but we probably need to circle back to that to see what that really looks like.
"I don't know if that means every year, every other year or if they want to take a break and then resume, so we'll just have to see."
A video of the complete news conference is available on the website and our official YouTube channel.
It was his first formal on-campus visit with the media since he announced the appointment of Josh Eilert as interim men's basketball coach earlier this summer.
"There is no real agenda for the day other than just to have a chance and sit with you and answer any questions that you may have," he began. "It's been an eventful summer, certainly at WVU and the athletic department, but also in the Big 12.
"I've had a great summer; got my girls moved here and everybody is happy and healthy, and they are getting all settled in," Baker added.
Before taking questions, Baker mentioned a few items that are on the horizon for WVU athletics. At the top of his list is a senior staff restructuring that he anticipates announcing in the coming days.
Earlier this summer, Baker announced the hiring of Ben Murray to his senior leadership team as deputy director of athletics, and he will once again oversee the Mountaineer Athletic Club after spending the last two years at Nebraska.
"My goal is to restructure in a way that allows more efficient and timely decision making – and also not have quite as many decision points directed at me because we have a need for revenue, and I need to be a part of solving that by getting out and seeing our donors," he explained. "What I don't want is to bottleneck decisions back on campus.
"We are probably a couple months behind where I hoped to be on some of our initiatives, just because of some of the issues that we've dealt with," he added.
Baker said his strategic visioning and initiatives platform is nearing completion, with deputy athletics director Steve Uryasz being the department point person, and will involve all aspects of WVU athletics.
"We will really lay out a four- or five-year plan of these are the things that we want to fix and the timing and the organization of how we want to do that," he said. "Then, we will assess our facilities. We've done a lot of facility work the last few years, and we know we have more work to do."
Baker listed West Virginia's passionate and loyal fanbase as its biggest strength.
"We have a tremendous following and any metric the Big 12 has shown us where they do evaluations of other programs, we are at or near the top of that grouping," Baker noted, adding one of the department's biggest weaknesses is an inability to more adequately monetize WVU's loyal fanbase.
"For example, last weekend we had our 1891 Club event in here, and I had two or three people ask me about buying suites. Well, we don't have any suites to sell so we've got to figure that out. Not only is that a revenue problem for us now, but we really cut ourselves off with some prospects in the future."
Baker was asked about the biggest summer news item – the Big 12 expanding to 16 next year with the additions of Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. Those four schools will now give the Big 12 members in all four time zones and become a national sports league.
"Commissioner (Brett) Yormark is really an excellent communicator, so he had regular meetings throughout that process, and we had a high level of communications until they got near the goal line, but that last day or two, as everyone was experiencing the ups and downs on social media, I was right there with you," he said. "But when you look at where we were at in the Big 12 two years ago, the league was on the verge of extinction.
"Now, when you look at where we're at today, in my opinion the conference is clearly in the top three of the most stable, best-positioned conferences in college sports moving forward. It's a remarkable job by the leadership in the Big 12 when all of that happened," he said. "Ultimately, our group was pretty aligned in if we could get the four corner schools that made the most sense for the future of the league.
"I think we're a big winner in this round of conference realignment, and as you look at what's happening in the TV (industry) and there being shrinking resources for the first time really in history, but the markets we picked up and the penetration in those markets, I think we are well positioned for the future."
Baker fielded a variety of questions, including:
* West Virginia's revenue challenges in comparison to the rest of the programs in the Big 12 …
"We do not have a spending problem here; we have a revenue problem. If you compare us across a variety of spending categories, we're very efficient with the dollars that we have, but we've got to eat, breathe, sleep and think 24/7, 365 how can we bring in more revenue?
"If you go back and look historically, and when our teams across the board have been the most successful, is when we were around the average or a little bit higher in the league in terms of budget," he said. "We're not there right now, and we've got to find a way to do that. There are lot of buckets, and not all of them are big buckets, but they all add up. My job is to find a way for our coaches to have the tools in their tool belt that they need to be successful."
* His personal conversation with Arizona State athletics director Ray Anderson after he jokingly commented that he is not planning to go to Morgantown once the Sun Devils join the Big 12 …
"We had a great conversation, and I've known Ray for a pretty good while. I suspect he didn't mean that the way it was taken, but it definitely hit a sore spot with all of us who are proud of West Virginia," Baker said. "I'm a champion of people giving West Virginia a chance as a place to live, as a place to visit and a place to vacation.
"It is a beautiful place with some wonderful people and not enough people know about it," he said. "He was gracious and kind and told me that he probably wouldn't get a very warm welcome when he comes to Morgantown. I told him I think it will be the opposite, 'You better tell your logistics people how you are going to be able to get all those pepperoni rolls home. All West Virginians want is for people to give them a chance and you will love it here.'"
* His preference on future football scheduling …
"It's partly contingent on what the conference schedule looks like. In this environment, where we have nine conference games, that means some years you are going to have five home games and some years four. I think it's important to the state and to Morgantown that we always have a minimum of six home games, and we'd like to have seven. So, when you start to do the math that restricts some of your opportunities, which means that one FCS game is important," he explained. "I've said this before, but I think having a Power 5 regional rival on the schedule every year is important, and we would probably prefer that would be Pitt.
"In the years when it's not Pitt, who is another regional rival that we can take on? Then, can we get a meaningful Group of 5 FBS opponent."
* The potential additional expense of traveling Olympic sport teams to Utah, Arizona and Colorado beginning next year …
"Our financial folks in the athletic department are starting to model some of that out. This is happening so fast that we're going to know pretty quick what those schedules have to look like, and listen, there is a possibility depending upon how we schedule in certain sports that we could reduce costs," he explained. "If we can lock in and play in divisions, you could potentially cut some costs, but there is also a lot of miles out there where it could go up.
"We have to drill down on that because it does affect us in a more disadvantageous way than others who might be more centrally located in the league," he added.
* The naming rights possibilities for some of West Virginia's athletic venues as a source of additional revenue …
"We are exploring this in all our venues and have had some third parties engaged to do some valuations on that. Certainly, the juice needs to be worth the squeeze because people get attached to certain names on venues, and I get that," he said. "But they also get attached to winning and winning takes money. That's something that we're evaluating and definitely are going to look at, and I think there is an opportunity for us, given the reach of our brand.
"If an advertiser comes in the state of West Virginia, there is no better organization to partner with than WVU athletics. We have the biggest reach of any organization in this state," he said.
*His opinion on football coach Neal Brown and interim men's basketball coach Josh Eilert heading into an important year for WVU athletics …
"I've been really impressed with not just coach Brown, but all our coaches here. I've spent one-on-one time with all of them," he said. "I've made all the scrimmages and several practices and I'm excited. I feel good about where we're at. I feel good about the team and their resolve. I think the prognosticators not having very high expectations has helped motivate them, and I think it's helped motivate all of us, really.
"But there are a lot of things done right inside this program. My core belief is you have to value the person over the player, and eventually, you will get the full ability out of the player. This staff does a great job of pouring in to develop people. There is a lot of positive things going on with this program, but we know we have to win games and coach Brown has said that. I read his commentary all the time.
"As for men's basketball, coach Eilert has done everything we could have asked him to do and hoped that he would do. During that time, there were lots of people offering lots of opinions on what we should do and the timing of it," Baker said. "During the coaching change, when the portal reopened for everybody, there was going to be some roster attrition. That was going to happen no matter what we did or how quickly we did it. I knew that, and we were dealing with that in real time, but we tried to move as quickly as we could to make the best decisions we could. Then we tried to give coach Eilert everything he needs to be successful.
"He's made some additions to his coaching staff, they've made some additions to the roster, and I think up to this point he's handled everything as well as we could possibly ask," Baker said.
* His thoughts on the wellness of student-athletes potentially being required to make frequent cross-country trips in different time zones when the conference expands to 16 teams …
"I think there is a way for us to come together as a conference and look at scheduling that doesn't send your track, soccer and volleyball teams all the way to Utah to play every year," he said. "We have 16 teams, and everybody doesn't sponsor every sport, but that gives us potentially two divisions of eight and potentially four pods of four. There are a lot of creative things that we can do, and we have an obligation as a conference to explore this.
"I have been very consistent in raising the point that there are ways for us to cut considerable expense, and more importantly, to keep student-athletes in the classroom and out of hotels and airports. This expansion does not have to mean we have to travel farther. In my opinion, we could actually travel less because we have more teams to afford West Virginia not to play everybody round-robin."
* His opinion on continuing the Pitt football and men's basketball series once the current contracts expire …
"I've known (Pitt athletics director) Heather Lyke for probably eight or nine years now, and I've told her we want to play as much and as long as they want to play," he said. "I called her several months back to express our interest in continuing the basketball series. Football didn't come up at that time because it was more of a basketball conversation, but I know there is willingness on our part to extend in pretty much every sport. I believe that's the case on their end, but we probably need to circle back to that to see what that really looks like.
"I don't know if that means every year, every other year or if they want to take a break and then resume, so we'll just have to see."
A video of the complete news conference is available on the website and our official YouTube channel.
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