Meet the Power-4 athletic director that just put himself under the microscope

Overall, West Virginia’s Wren Baker is a good athletic director. Since taking over in 2022, the Mountaineers have made strides in several sports, with a large highlight being the massive strides the school has taken on the baseball diamond since Baker’s arrival going 76-44 the last two years combined.

However, in Morgantown as at almost every other power four athletic school, football drives the meter. And that meter has been falling way short the last few seasons under head coach Neal Brown.

In Baker’s defense, he was only hired in 2022 and the program had been faltering in the eyes of many the last decade or so. So, to put it all on the Baker who is just approaching his two-year mark of employment is not entirely fair. However, recent happenings have definitely put more eyes on Baker and the situation with the football team.

West Virginia athletic Director, Wren Baker needs to get the next football head coaching hire right

Baker inherited a nightmare with current Mountaineers head football coach Neal Brown who has been in Morgantown for five full seasons now, only amassing two winning campaigns.

In 2022 before his arrival, previous athletic director Shane Lyons sign Brown to a massive contract extension in 2021 which locked the coach up through the 2026 season. With a pretty large buyout, there is a strong possibility that despite billboards flying throughout Morgantown calling for Brown’s firing, it does not make financial sense for Baker and the Mountaineers administration to part ways with Brown at the moment. If they did, there is a strong possibility they would be left with very little monetarily to find his replacement for 2025, which would leave the team in an even bigger mess longer term.

Regardless of this, if Baker as athletic director decides to retain Brown until 2025, it is time for Brown to put up or shut up, or theoretically chances are solid he could be gone. If not, eyes will continue to spotlight on Baker who at that point, will hardly have a leg to stand on with the buyout then being a lot more manageable.