Dear Mountaineer Nation,
Today, I begin my tenure as the Vice President and Director of Athletics at West Virginia University, and I want to share a few thoughts with all of you.
First, I want to thank you for the incredibly warm welcome and the many kind words that my family and I have received over the past few weeks. As I shared in my opening press conference, my wife and I were raised in small Oklahoma towns and have been taking country roads throughout our lives, and we are so happy that those roads have led us home to West Virginia.
WVU is a tremendous institution with so much of which to be proud, and I am honored to join the leadership team. I love that we are nationally recognized for providing an elite education while continuing to prioritize access for West Virginians. I am emboldened by the passion the entire state has for the Mountaineers and will never take the privilege of leading our athletics department for granted. I, along with our coaches and staff and will work tirelessly to make all West Virginians proud.
We will develop a bold vision for WVU and determine a detailed set of strategic initiatives. In the coming weeks, I will spend much of my time listening to our stakeholders, an important first step in developing our comprehensive vision for the future.
There are three non-negotiable principles upon which our work will be based:
Our student-athletes will always come first. They deserve the very best experience we can provide, and their success and well-being will be at the forefront of every decision we make. We will build them into champions, leaders and most importantly, graduates of West Virginia University.
Details matter. Little things make big things happen and attention to detail reflects our commitment to excellence.
Integrity is a must. We will win with honor, and we will not compromise our values to achieve our goals.
This is a unique and exciting time in college athletics. The emergence of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and the addition of four new members to the Big 12 in 2023 provide us with new challenges and new opportunities. West Virginians are renowned for their toughness, unwavering grit and resiliency, and these virtues give me confidence that we will embrace this new era of college athletics as our chance to innovate, invest and thrive.
To accomplish our goals, we will need all of us pulling in the same direction. One of my favorite quotes comes from Helen Keller: "I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something. I will not refuse to do something I can do."
Every member of Mountaineer Nation can do something to help elevate our programs and achieve our goals. You can attend games. You can join the Mountaineer Athletic Club. You can support NIL opportunities for our student-athletes. You can be an ambassador by spreading the word about WVU, its global impact and the many positive things happening in athletics and on campus.
Let me close with another one of my favorite quotes, this one from the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi: "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can capture excellence."
I am so excited for our journey ahead and I am confident we will achieve excellence together.
I look forward to seeing you at one of our athletic events in the near future.
Let's Go Mountaineers!
Wren Baker
Vice President and Director of Athletics
Today, I begin my tenure as the Vice President and Director of Athletics at West Virginia University, and I want to share a few thoughts with all of you.
First, I want to thank you for the incredibly warm welcome and the many kind words that my family and I have received over the past few weeks. As I shared in my opening press conference, my wife and I were raised in small Oklahoma towns and have been taking country roads throughout our lives, and we are so happy that those roads have led us home to West Virginia.
WVU is a tremendous institution with so much of which to be proud, and I am honored to join the leadership team. I love that we are nationally recognized for providing an elite education while continuing to prioritize access for West Virginians. I am emboldened by the passion the entire state has for the Mountaineers and will never take the privilege of leading our athletics department for granted. I, along with our coaches and staff and will work tirelessly to make all West Virginians proud.
We will develop a bold vision for WVU and determine a detailed set of strategic initiatives. In the coming weeks, I will spend much of my time listening to our stakeholders, an important first step in developing our comprehensive vision for the future.
There are three non-negotiable principles upon which our work will be based:
Our student-athletes will always come first. They deserve the very best experience we can provide, and their success and well-being will be at the forefront of every decision we make. We will build them into champions, leaders and most importantly, graduates of West Virginia University.
Details matter. Little things make big things happen and attention to detail reflects our commitment to excellence.
Integrity is a must. We will win with honor, and we will not compromise our values to achieve our goals.
This is a unique and exciting time in college athletics. The emergence of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and the addition of four new members to the Big 12 in 2023 provide us with new challenges and new opportunities. West Virginians are renowned for their toughness, unwavering grit and resiliency, and these virtues give me confidence that we will embrace this new era of college athletics as our chance to innovate, invest and thrive.
To accomplish our goals, we will need all of us pulling in the same direction. One of my favorite quotes comes from Helen Keller: "I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something. I will not refuse to do something I can do."
Every member of Mountaineer Nation can do something to help elevate our programs and achieve our goals. You can attend games. You can join the Mountaineer Athletic Club. You can support NIL opportunities for our student-athletes. You can be an ambassador by spreading the word about WVU, its global impact and the many positive things happening in athletics and on campus.
Let me close with another one of my favorite quotes, this one from the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi: "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can capture excellence."
I am so excited for our journey ahead and I am confident we will achieve excellence together.
I look forward to seeing you at one of our athletic events in the near future.
Let's Go Mountaineers!
Wren Baker
Vice President and Director of Athletics
