MORGANTOWN — In his search for West Virginia University’s next football coach, athletic director Wren Baker said there is one criterion that will impress the fan base most.
“Over my 20 years of doing this, you know what I think inspires fans? Winning,” he said Tuesday. “I’m not worried about winning the press conference or necessarily getting people excited when they read the press release. I want somebody that gives me the most confidence they can come in here and win.”
Baker addressed the media for the first time since Neal Brown was fired Sunday – and likely for the last time until a new head coach is named. Brown was relieved of his duties the day after WVU finished its regular season with a 52-15 loss at Texas Tech that put the Mountaineers at 6-6 on the campaign.
Now Baker is on the trail for a successor. He said he wasn’t looking for a specific profile, whether it be a dynamic personality, an offensive genius or a defensive guru. The right guy will be someone who can help lead WVU football to a plateau Brown was unable to reach consistently in his six seasons as coach.
“I think we’re not limited to only head coaches or only coordinators,” he said. “We want a proven leader, somebody who can understand and embrace West Virginia, somebody that understands roster construction in this modern and changing world of college athletics.
“From a revenue share perspective, we do expect to be at or near the full participation in rev share,” Baker added. “So once we determine that football number, there’s a substantial amount of rev share, and that’s a big part of the job. Now, it wasn’t the case a few years ago, but understanding how to use what is, in essence, kind of a salary cap is a really important part of what you want.”
Baker said the right candidate will be someone who understands the job goes beyond on-field coaching, that it extends to leading the way in academics and life enrichment. He also is searching for another coach like Brown who leads with integrity.
“I feel like that’s non negotiable,” Baker said.
Baker praised his former coach Tuesday, applauding his work as a leader who built a strong foundation for the program. The 5th Quarter player development program, and the Chambers Elite Climbers program within the 5th Quarter program, were Brown’s ideas.
“I’ve got so much respect for him,” Baker said of Brown. “The class and integrity he’s showed … if I was to script out how you want a couple of hard days to go, I couldn’t have scripted him to be any better and any classier than he’s been.”
Baker is casting a wide net in search for the next coach. He’ll narrow that field down over the next couple of days and start having conversations, mostly on Zoom calls. Then he’ll narrow things down even further to look for the right group of finalists to bring to campus.
He’s not publicly talking about a timeline for the hire. That, he said, leads people to get nervous if the search starts moving off the announced timeline. He does, however, know there are events that make taking things slow a risk. The early signing period for football opens today. The transfer portal opens Monday, and WVU players already were able to enter the portal after Brown was fired, per NCAA rules.
Baker said time was of the essence in hiring a coach, to give the new guy the opportunity to talk to recruits and players already on the roster before the windows close. But he won’t rush things.
“I always used the old, I think it was a John Wooden quote: be quick, but don’t hurry,” Baker said. “I understand that the quicker that we can get this search done, the better position we put the new staff in. However, you can’t misfire and get it wrong because you were rushing, and so we’re going to take the time that it takes.
“The reality is that you want to retain as much talent as you can,” he continued. “We’ve got some great players. We’ve got some great human beings in the locker room that I would love to stay here. … I understand the quicker we can go, the better position we’ll be in. But I just refuse to feel rushed to do it.”
Baker said he will use a search firm for this search. Among his other criteria, having WVU or West Virginia ties isn’t among them. He didn’t have that requirement for his men’s and women’s basketball hires. New men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries recently knocked off two ranked teams in three games during the Battle 4 Atlantis. Second-year women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg has his team at 8-1 so far and ranked 15th in the latest Associated Press sportswriters poll.
Yet he does have one Mountain State-based requirement. The new coach must understand what WVU football means to the people of West Virginia. It isn’t a job that will allow for an ounce of anonymity, and the new coach must be ready for that.
“If you’re going to have one of the most prominent positions at this institution, you’re going to have one of the most prominent positions in the state, and you have to really embrace that,” he said. “You’re never going to stop and get gas. You’re never going to walk into a convenience store. You’re never going to go into the grocery store and buy anything where people don’t know who you are.
“And so I spend a lot of time talking about that and trying to make sure that whoever we bring in understands that,” he added, “because … until you experience it, you don’t fully probably comprehend what it is.”
— Story by Derek Redd
