MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker reflected on the process that resulted in the return of Rich Rodriguez to coach the Mountaineers.
On MetroNews “Talkline,” Baker said everyone had an opinion about the former coach and how he left to take the head coaching job in Michigan. Those opinions were never “in the middle,” or provided in passing; all of the opinions were passionate, no matter which side of the “Rich Rod” saga you might be on.
Baker said Rodriguez consistently outperformed the other candidates in the interview process and never shied away from addressing his exit from Morgantown 17 years ago. According to Baker, Rodriguez addressed his prior exit passionately and convinced him he was committed to returning to WVU to produce a winning product on the field and make a positive impact in the lives of young people.
“I did the very best I could to put those aside and run a process that was fair,” Baker said. “He did a really tremendous job at every step of articulating his vision and his desire to be back in West Virginia.”
Clear expectations were discussed during the interview process. Consistently competing in the upper half of the Big 12 conference, along with regular bowl appearances, would be the ground floor of the expectations.
“We feel like every two to three years we should be competing for the college football playoff, and my vision is that we’re in that conversation every year,” Baker said.
Each time the top candidates were reset as the search continued, Baker said Rodriguez always managed to keep a top spot in the process. Those conversations revealed someone who sincerely wanted to return to WVU and coach a winning football program while correcting a wrong at the same time.
“I think for him, it’s not just about coming back and leading a Big 12 program, and it’s even not about leading a program in his home state,” Baker said. “I think it’s about coming back and having a sense of pride and being able to walk in public places in his home state and know he’s done right.”
The contract Rodriguez accepted is a five-year deal that Baker called modest in terms of salary for a head coach. Rodriguez agreed to the deal that will bring a “heavy investment” in the assistant pool and the overall budget of the program. Baker expects Rodriguez to bring his own staff to implement his program.
“There was not a lot of back-and-forth in those negotiations,” Baker said. “It was clean, simple, and everybody was coming at it from the vantage point of what do we need to do to make this program successful.”
During the search process, Baker said they had developed information on hundreds of potential candidates and worked through each list. While that information was being developed, fans, alumni, and many with an opinion offered those thoughts to Baker, who said he tried to focus on the best candidate to guide the football program into the future.
I really don’t let anyone in to that process,” Baker said. “Because I feel like part of this job is to block out all of those influences and work through a process that you believe is fair to the responsibility and importance of the job.”