Everything New WVU AD Wren Baker Said at His Introductory Press Conference
What an athletic department can do with NIL/the importance of it
"At this point, we're not able to determine who gets money or convey a certain amount or anything like that, but we can promote it. And I think that's the right place for us to be. Really, Name, Image, and Likeness is about opportunities for student-athletes and that's what we're here for is to provide them with opportunities. Opportunities to get degrees, opportunities to excel and grown professionally as well as athletically. Name, Image, and Likeness is about opportunities and I think it's important that we embrace that, that we promote that. I don't think it has to come at the expense of other things that we're trying to do."
First conversation with Neal Brown
"Great. It was better than the first time I shook hands with him because Troy was beating North Texas in the New Orleans Bowl when the first time I met Coach Brown. But he's been great. We've had several conversations. I look forward to getting here and working with Coach Brown and doing a thorough assessment of the program so we can determine, hey, what do we need? What are our gaps? What hurdles can I eliminate? What resources do I need to go and procure? Because the football program is obviously important to the university and to the state. Coach Brown knows that. He wants to give WVU and the state of West Virginia the kind of program that all fans will be proud of. So, I'm excited to join him, lock arms with him, get in the trenches with him and figure out what we need to do to eliminate hurdles for him and provide resources for him."
Interest from other schools and why he chose WVU
"I won't go into too many details about other schools and their searches, but definitely have had a lot of inquiries as we've had success at North Texas over the years. Heather and I are both from Oklahoma, so where we live is within three hours of most of our family, so that's a pretty strong hurdle to overcome. This was the first one where there was really a consensus amongst our family like, hey, this seems like a really great place. A really great place to live, raise our family, a great institution. And the more we researched, the more it interested us. There's no question that the bar was going to have to be high for us to leave what we had, but this institution is that special and the more we dove into it, the more we figured that out."
Winning the transfer portal
"I think it starts with making sure the student-athletes who are here are having a great experience. Retention, in any form of talent acquisition retention is critical. We want our student-athletes who are in our program now to have a great experience. To feel like they are being prepared for more than just athletics and to get a degree. To prepare them for life preparing them to be valuable members of the community, all of those things that we really care about in developing them as people. And then with the portal, I think we have to provide all the access to all the technology in the world to see who's going in. I mean, a few years ago, it was all manual. Now, you can go in the morning if you pay for the service and they tell you who's going in, they tell you who's going out, and some of the services will even tell you grades and some commentary from coaches. So you got to know who is there and then you got to make sure that your coaching staff, across the board, are equipped with the people who can reach out to student-athletes in the portal and help build the case just in terms of the frequency of communication in selling what we have to offer. It's certainly a different world."
Possibility of adding softball and men's track at WVU
"I haven't had a lot of time to dive in to those kind of things yet. I mean, last night was my first time to ever be here. So, I actually talked to Joe Castiglione, the AD at Oklahoma earlier in the week and he said, 'have you been there?' I said, 'not yet, I'm going this week.' He said, 'you've already been the AD for two days and you haven't been there yet?' So, I've got a lot to learn. A lot of listening to do. But my first priority will be to make sure that our programs who are here are resourced in a way that they can compete for championships and be relevant nationally. I love the addition of sports. I love college softball. I'm out there every game at North Texas. Really enjoy it. I'm not even in the stands, I'm over there on the third base line near the home team's dugout."
Relationship with Country Roads Trust
"I've known Oliver [Luck] for a long time. We haven't spent a lot of time together, but he's somebody in the industry that certainly has a name and reputation that I've connected with over time. I've had a chance to talk to the rest of the staff over there at Country Roads Trust. I see them as an asset and as a tool that we need to have a relationship with. Not one that violates the rules, but one that is healthy and does everything it can to provide those opportunities for student-athletes within the rules. I am supportive to the extent that I can be with the collective. What I think is important is that everybody recognizes and knows that the MAC is important, other projects we're doing is important, other areas of the university is important. But those NIL opportunities are important. It's something that we need all of Mountaineer Nation to embrace."
How he plans to go about assessing Neal Brown for a year
"I think you get in and build a relationship and work every day in the trenches. I think having coached, I think that helps me. I think I understand how coaches think a little bit. I understand how to communicate with them. I understand when they need to feel support. There's a time and place to have conversations. So, I look forward to getting in and really working with Coach Brown and learning everything I can about the football program. And I'm confident that we can, together, figure out where we need to go."
Factors that make an AD start seriously considering changes conferences
"Well, at UNT, it was really about the geography was better for us. The television contracts were much better for us. The institutional alignment was much better for us. I think all of those factors go in. I think it's important that in conference realignment you keep your head on a swivel. You never know when things may change and I'm very fortunate to have a partner [President Gee], who has been through a few of those."
Forging relationships with alums
"We had a little of that when I onboarded at UNT as well. Initially, I spent a lot of time just listening to those alums and their experience. You have to find opportunities to celebrate the past. Whether that's reunions or different ceremonies to honor people that have traditionally helped you get to where you were. And then you got to continue to provide avenues for them to come back, make it easy for them to come back. Show them love, show them appreciation. Give them an opportunity to spend time with each other because really it's those relationships that they miss the most. If we're doing a good job there, then I'm confident that they'll feel really valued, really appreciated, and really celebrated when they come back to campus. I've already started reaching out to some of our alums. I'll rely on the team here to give me a comprehensive list, so I can do that. But that'll be a real important part of these first 100 days on the job is connecting with as many of our stakeholders that I can."
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