MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University director of athletics Wren Baker has surrounded himself with spreadsheets, printouts, data and other materials as he really begins to pour into the search for a new men's basketball coach.
 
Baker's track record of success hiring coaches was one of the determining factors in him getting the athletic director's job in Morgantown 16 months ago.
 
His Grant McCasland discovery for North Texas has turned into a boon for Texas Tech when the Red Raiders pegged him to fix the difficult situation they were in last spring. Tech is now a No. 6 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament.
 
Baker identifying Mark Kellogg last spring to coach the women's team has already paid big dividends with the Mountaineers spending a good portion of this season in the top 25 and reaching the NCAA Tournament once again in his first year at the helm.
 
The Jen Greeny hire last December caught the college volleyball world by surprise and instantly gives the WVU program some national cache it has never really enjoyed in the sport.
 
Last Thursday, Baker listed some of the qualities he's seeking in a new men's basketball coach, starting with an appreciation for WVU, the state and its people.
 
"We want someone who will come in and understand West Virginia and West Virginians – our values, that determination, grit and resilience that makes us Mountaineers," he said. "If you look back, coach McCasland has done that (at North Texas and Texas Tech), Jen Greeny has hit the ground and done that, and that's something you can't get a feel for until you sit with people and you talk to them about it."
 
Having an appreciation and an understanding for West Virginia and its people doesn't necessarily mean it has to be one of our own, however. 
 
Baker explains.
 
"I don't believe that you have to be from here to love it here or to have success here," he said. "If all else is equal and there is a tie, maybe that helps you. If somebody has ties to here or to the state and they have a nice profile, that would work, and we would look at that. 
 
"I believe there have also been lots of successful coaches here who aren't from here. We've got a baseball coach (Johnstown, Pennsylvania's Randy Mazey) who has done a great job. We've got a men's soccer coach (London native Dan Stratford) who played here, but he's not from here, and he's doing a great job," Baker added.
 
It applies throughout West Virginia's men's basketball and football histories as well.
 
The man in the mid-1940s who eventually replaced Dyke Raese and put West Virginia on a 20-year path of basketball dominance was a native Texan who traveled the country coaching teams in New York and Arizona before settling in Princeton, West Virginia. 
 
His name was Lee Patton.
 
It was Patton who delivered Fred Schaus to us from Ohio, and it was Schaus who turned Mountaineer basketball into a national sensation in the late 1950s. Schaus readily admitted that his up-tempo style of basketball came from Patton, who died unexpectedly from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1950.
 
Schaus then passed on his knowledge to George King, a Charleston native who had no WVU ties before he came here as West Virginia's first full-time assistant men's coach in 1958.
 
Years later, John Beilein reinvigorated Mountaineer basketball in the mid-2000s without deep West Virginia roots and no WVU ties. Beilein's only affiliation to the state was the four years he spent playing at Wheeling Jesuit and the brief time he student-taught at John Marshall High in Glen Dale before taking the Nephane High job in upstate New York.
 
The winningest coach in Mountaineer football history, Dr. Clarence Spears, grew up in DeWitt, Arkansas, and came to WVU from Dartmouth.
 
Spears had no knowledge of West Virginia University before his arrival, and he introduced West Virginians to a style of football they had never seen before and rabidly supported, so much so that a new downtown football stadium was built upon the immense success of his teams. Several times throughout his coaching career, following stops at Minnesota, Oregon, Wisconsin, Toledo and Maryland, West Virginia alums unsuccessfully tried to get him to return.
 
It's hard to believe it today, but Don Nehlen was once a complete stranger to West Virginians when Dick Martin surprised everyone by hiring him to coach the Mountaineers in 1979.
 

Everybody thought the WVU football job was going to Glen Dale's Bill Mallory before Martin went "underground" to hire Nehlen. 
 
By the way, does an AD "going underground" to find a coach sound familiar?
 
"Bob Marcum was the first one to mention Don to me," the late Martin recalled in 2006, two years before his death. "I was working at the Big Eight office and Bob was the AD at Iowa State and then down at Kansas. Bob and I were good friends, and he recommended Don to me, and I just kind of did the research from there.
 
"At the time, to protect the overall process to make sure it worked right, you had to be a little more secretive," Martin explained. "Not that I was trying to hide anything, but you can overblow something, and people can get in different camps."
 
Martin back then was looking for a person with many of the same qualities Wren Baker is seeking for the men's basketball job today.
 
"You needed someone that could relate to West Virginia and West Virginians," Martin said. "I think you needed someone that was honest. The thing that came across to me most about Don was his sincerity and honesty, and I thought he could really relate to players. It was kind of a sixth sense that you have."
 
Ultimately, what Martin was seeking was not an instant winner, but rather a program builder.
 
Baker said Thursday he is also looking for a program builder.
 
"I think there are lots of examples of successful coaches who are not from here. I think what is important is if you are going to have success at WVU, you must come in with a heart of really trying to connect with West Virginia and West Virginians," he explained. "If you do that, the people here will rally around you and support you and I believe that."
 
Baker said he is looking for a coach committed to developing and supporting well-rounded young men.
 
"We want somebody who is committed to building a championship program on the court, but also someone who is committed to building leaders off the court," he said. "That's really important that we're helping young people grow and develop and get prepared for life."
 
Baker said he is seeking a coach who can relate to the modern-day complexities of Name, Image and Likeness and the transfer portal.
 
"That sometimes changes daily, as you-all know. We need someone who can navigate recruiting and retention in the portal and NIL era," he said. "I've seen the way our football program has grown and embraced that, and it's made a difference for them."
 
And finally, Baker said he is looking for a coach who can embrace being the face of West Virginia University and the entire state, and all the important responsibilities required of someone in that role.
 
"You don't get to come to WVU and just be a basketball coach, a football coach or an AD. You are an ambassador for the state, and if you can't embrace that, then this is probably not a job for you," he concluded.