Wren Baker press conference summary: 8-22
West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker addressed the media in his annual preseason meeting and here is a summary of what was said.
–Baker is excited for a new season and they were excited for the success. A lot is going on and they are very excited that the energy is back on campus. Football season opens a week from tomorrow and there is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. Season ticket sales, 33,208. They expect it to get to 33,500. Massive increase and shows a lot of enthusiasm with the fans and they have over 9,500 new season ticket holders with some non-renewals.
–Baker said they are making a lot of headway in implementing the House Settlement measures. They’ve seen some real NIL opportunities but need to continue to grow those.
–West Virginia is at the full revenue sharing number but they’ve got to add scholarships so they are working on that for the Olympic sports.
–Blue and Gold Enterprises is now up and running. President Michael Benson is on board now and he has been all over the place. They’re blessed to have him and he has enjoyed getting to know him and work with him. Lastly, they announced the Hall of Fame inductees this morning and that is one of the best days in this job when you’re able to make those calls.
–Baker said they will know more in the next few days about the Alabama series, but the announcement did not surprise them. They’ve had a lot of different conversations but they will certainly circle up and see where they’re at. It will be really important to solidify that in the near future. It didn’t surprise him but it triggered some other conversations.
–Baker said that there are three buckets in the revenue sharing. They haven’t added new scholarships for this year. As they look at next year, they are focused on adding those scholarships. They’re still early in determining whether it will be Olympic sports or the revenue sports but they have to be in line with Title IX. They will talk to all of the coaches and will at least try to get a sense for the needs in each of the sports teams.
–Baker is still processing on the latest suggestions for the College Football Playoff but believes there shouldn’t be an unfair number of AQs regardless of the format. You earn it on the field and the 5+11 model is one that is has supportive of and if they go larger the AQs should be equitable.
–It’s been very frustrating over the last couple of years to have even for big games to have more requests to advance to the lottery system and then the game kicks off and there are empty seats in that lower section. They’ve probably spent more time talking about the Blue Lot than anything. It’s the most fair way to do it and the best way to create the best environment that you can.
–Baker said a few days before that comment was made by Pat Narduzzi about playing the Backyard Brawl, he had reached out to the Athletic Director at Pitt to extend the series. They want to build a schedule to build interest and gives the team a best chance to compete for the College Football Playoff but they also want to bring people to Morgantown. Any opportunity they have to have home games to come to the state and experience the beauty of fall here it is important for them to try and promote tourism. Baker has spent hours and hours and hours of managing scheduling opportunities.
–Baker said he has never put an expectation out there in terms of wins and losses. It’s been fun to work with coach Rich Rodriguez and watch him. He is very calculated in just about everything he does when he’s with his team. He is confident in where they are going and he wishes he could say he knew where they were at but with 75 new players he doesn’t think anybody does. The job on the entire coaching staff and to acclimate their skill set and culture to have success. He has the expectation that they are establishing culture and the young men are representing them the way they want to be represented.
–Baker said that just like in the hiring process, he was aware of the history with Rodriguez, but his job is to focus on the here and now and the future. The evaluation is still the same are they laying a foundation?
–Baker said they’ve had a fairly thorough assessment of all the facilities. Done a very thorough assessment of parking, etc. It’s fairly comprehensive but where the focus is in the Coliseum, is there a way to create some premium that isn’t super costly and the stadium is a more costly endeavor. They have to create as much premium seating opportunities as possible. Those seats sale for higher and requires a higher donation. His hope is that they were previously in that silent phase of having discussions and now they have several meetings coming up and sometime after the New Year hopefully they’ll have a plan.
–They’ve had some donors step up but you’re balancing all of the needs. They made a decision to invest a lot in the rev share over scholarships. You can’t have a successful athletic program without revenue from football and basketball to feed the rest of the athletic program. The Olympic sports are still very important and people love the success of the rifle program and the soccer programs. People are very excited about what baseball is doing but it’s something they aren’t waving the white flag trying to compete in the Olympic sports because they still want to be excellent there, too. It’s all a puzzle you’re constantly trying to fit together.
–Baker said that he doesn’t think he’s uneasy with the roster turnover in the two major sports because ticket sales are encouraging and they’re progressing. When you worry is when they’re struggling. He is really excited about where they’re at in those two sports and hopeful in those two sports.
–Baker said it’s MAC Donations, ticket sales, social media impressions, Caravan attendees, the people he talks to out and about when judging the metrics for Rich Rodriguez at this stage. The big data they can collect and they can see but it’s also the feel when you’re out and about and talk to people.
–Baker isn’t a lawyer so he doesn’t try to be one. The general counsel at West Virginia and compliance offer has engaged the Big 12 and they’ll engage the NCAA to make sure they aren’t putting the institution at any risk on the legal case with the players. WVU hasn’t sued anybody, but they do support any citizen’s right to pursue legal recourse. Once they have clarity on what it all means they’ll move forward in a way that doesn’t put the institution at risk. Nothing is more important than the institution’s integrity. They’re starting the process of getting those guys out there that are eligible as fast as possible. Baker doesn’t know if all four are practicing.
–If you go back and look at scheduling historically and you run the different analytics, it’s very difficult to build a program playing 11 power conference games. Some scheduling moves were made to accommodate not having rivals on the schedule, but he is a data driven guy and the data shows that 10 power conference games is the pathway to success. He follows by the data not bravado.
–Picking and choosing neutral site opportunities is important when it comes to increasing the brand. A lot of people in Charlotte and Atlanta and if they have a chance to engage fans and it financially makes sense and it doesn’t put them in position where they don’t have enough home games. They’re looking at all of those in real time. They’ve been approached a couple times about playing a game internationally but it hasn’t made sense. But if it makes sense they will look at it. You’re never going to build a perfect schedule.
— Not just local but the state economy has an impact with a successful football and basketball program. People know and the board knows and tourism as part of the economy it’s fourth in the country in that regard. It’s become a huge focal point for the state leadership to understand it. WVU Athletics has a massive impact on the economy in this region and this state.
–Not going into the breakdown on revenue sharing yet. It’s a competitive thing that they prefer not to do. Whatever percentage you are contributing to the revenues that are identified that they are sharing the sports get a corresponding percentage. It was a massive hurdle to get to $20 million. They’ve increased the revenue streams and still have a couple revenue streams that haven’t been announced yet. It was a lot of people and some donors as well that stepped forward.
–Baker tries not to think as much as he does analyze the data and he has. What gives you the best chance to build momentum throughout a season in terms of scheduling? You’re trying to build schedules that provide challenges but also give you opportunities for success and to build momentum. Baker is confident in the type of schedule they need to build but it’s not because it’s what he thinks but it’s what he’s read in the data of programs trying to advance.
–The men’s basketball team has Wake Forest are in Charleston. There is a lot of passion in those areas. That was intentional to take them there and the women’s team to play at the Greenbrier and it would be easier for them to travel to those games.
–In all sports you’re trying to analyze if they have the tools to be successful and what can they do differently to help them.
–Baker said the best way to be fair is to play the same number of conference games in each league. The SEC moving to nine probably puts a little onus on the ACC to rethink what they’re doing.
–If Baker knew exactly how things would play out he wouldn’t be in this room, he would be consulting for schools for four or five million each to consult them on how it will play out. When you have some of the wealthiest schools in the country with $200 million budgets that are showing $30 million deficits they shoveled a lot of money into player acquisition and retention. That isn’t sustainable so eventually you have to correct that. There is only so much revenue to be had and be made no matter what the details. He thinks about that a lot and at some point federally, they will have to make a decision on supporting broad based opportunities on campus. It’s a worry or concern but at some point they have to establish an economy with some regulatory system in place.
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