Report: West Virginia finalizing deal to hire North Texas' Wren Baker as next AD

After parting ways with athlete director Shane Lyons just over two weeks ago, West Virginia appears locked in on the next leader of Mountaineer athletics. According to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, North Texas athletic director Wren Baker is finalizing a deal to take over the vacant position.

Wren Baker took over the North Texas athletic director position in 2016, leading the Mean Green to 17 conference or division championships across seven programs during his tenure. He is also known for his fundraising abilities, a must in the NIL and transfer portal era, securing 12 of the 20 largest gifts in the school’s history, per their website.

Prior to his time at North Texas, Baker worked as a deputy athletic director at Memphis and Missouri. He worked closely with football coach Justin Fuente, also assisting in the hire of Barry Odom.

West Virginia president backs Neal Brown

With the massive change occurring at the leadership position for the school’s athletic department, school president Gordon Gee said they would not consider changes with the football program and Neal Brown before the season is over. But now that time has come.

As part of his statement regarding the Lyons firing, Gee added this tidbit on Brown and the football program:

“We are supporting Coach Neal Brown and our team as we complete our season over the next few weeks,” Gee said. “We are aware there are some deficiencies, but we have not given up on the coach and the team, and they have not given up on each other. The evaluation of the football program will be the first task of our new athletic director and no changes will be made until that review has been completed.”

Brown is just 22-25 over four seasons with the Mountaineers, going 14-21 in Big 12 play with a 1-1 record in bowl games. His West Virginia team’s only winning season came in the shortened 2020 season, while he has never finished above the .500 mark in conference play.