Wren Baker is now on his fourth coaching search for the men’s basketball and football programs in his short tenure at West Virginia.
Baker took over the athletic director position at West Virginia University in November 2022 and was also named the university’s vice president. In his time at WVU, Wren Baker has been given a lot of credit by the fanbase for his unwavering support of the university and his ability to produce for the sports programs.
When Baker took over in 2022, Neal Brown and Bob Huggins were in charge of the football and basketball programs. There has been a lot of shakeup since.
Long-time WVU head basketball coach Bob Huggins resigned from the position in 2023 following his arrest in Pittsburgh. Baker and his staff had gotten to work to replace Huggins and decided that they would promote long-time assistant Josh Eilert. Eilert held multiple different roles over his 17-year tenure in Morgantown and served as the interim head coach in the 2023-2024 season, one in which the team went 9-23 and 4-14 in Big 12 play.
Following the conclusion of the season, Baker and his staff decided it was to make a big splash. They looked around the country for a while before deciding on bringing in Darian DeVries from Drake to take the keys for the basketball program for the unforeseeable future. DeVries led the team to a 19-13 season and a seventh-place finish in the Big 12, a team that many believe in having been robbed of an NCAA Tournament bid. A few days after Selection Sunday, it would be announced that DeVries would be leaving Morgantown after just a season and taking the head coaching opening at Indiana.
Baker will now be searching for the third head basketball coach in the last 21 months following Huggins’ resignation.
Neal Brown was fired on Dec. 1st, 2024 following the team’s last game ahead of their bowl game. Baker got to work immediately to find the new leader of the football program as he left no stone unturned and looked deeply into many different candidates.
“I think my job is to find the best candidate for the job. If the best candidate has WVU ties, great. If they’ve lived or worked or been in West Virginia, great. If they’re not the best candidate, that’s still the wrong decision. I think for me, you take all that in. I’ve said this before. I think what’s important here is that you hire somebody that has a desire and a heart to come in and embrace West Virginia because it is important to people here,” Baker said.
The team ultimately ended up bringing Rich Rodriguez back for his second tenure at WVU. Many fans were divided on the hire due to the history between the program and Rodriguez, but he has worked to repair the relationship and is preparing to win the fanbase back again.
It is unknown who will become the next head coach of the WVU basketball program, but Baker is working diligently to find the right candidate to fill the position.
