MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — This is certainly not the kind of news West Virginia fans expected to hear this week.
According to Scott Wright of Oklahoma State’s 247Sports site, West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker is being heavily pursued by Oklahoma State to potentially become the Cowboys’ next athletic director. And based on what Wright is hearing, this may be more than just Oklahoma State kicking the tires on a familiar name.
Wright reported earlier today:
“Rumors have persisted over the last two days suggesting that a group of Oklahoma State leaders, including some regents, is pushing to bring current West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker to fill the same position in place of Chad Weiberg. I’ve been in contact with multiple sources, including one in West Virginia, who believe this move has significant momentum. Some have said they could see something happening this week. Another questioned the validity of the rumors, suggesting the source of the rumor could be overplaying how close this is to becoming reality.”
Obviously, there are a lot of moving parts here, and nothing appears to be finalized. But if Oklahoma State really is making a serious push for Baker, there are plenty of reasons why this is a situation West Virginia fans should be paying very close attention to.
For starters, Oklahoma is home for Wren Baker.
Baker is originally from Valliant, Oklahoma. He attended Southeastern Oklahoma State before earning his master’s degree in education leadership from Oklahoma State in 2003. More importantly, his career in college athletics essentially began in Stillwater. Baker worked as a graduate assistant and basketball operations assistant under legendary Oklahoma State basketball coach Eddie Sutton from 2001-05. During his time with the program, Oklahoma State went 102-30, reached four NCAA Tournaments, advanced to the 2004 Final Four and made the Sweet 16 in 2005.
His ties to the state go even deeper. Baker later returned to his hometown to serve as the principal and athletic director at Valliant Public Schools, and he eventually became the athletic director at Rogers State in Claremore, Oklahoma. His wife, Heather, is also an Oklahoma native, having grown up in Bokchito.
So when people talk about Oklahoma State potentially being a “dream job” for Baker, that isn’t difficult to understand.
This wouldn’t simply be another athletic director position offering more money. It would be an opportunity for Baker to return home, lead the athletic department at the university where he earned his master’s degree and where his college athletics career really got started, and move closer to family and lifelong connections in Oklahoma.
That’s what makes this potentially dangerous for West Virginia.
The financial side of this is also fascinating. Oklahoma State’s current athletic director, Chad Weiberg, is making $750,000 annually under a contract that runs through the end of 2029. Baker, meanwhile, originally signed a six-year agreement with West Virginia that paid him $1.1 million annually plus incentives. There have been reports and rumors putting Baker’s current total compensation considerably higher, around the $1.5 million range.
That means Oklahoma State isn’t going to lure Wren Baker away from Morgantown by offering him what it currently pays Weiberg.
If the Cowboys are really serious about this — and Wright’s reporting suggests that at least some influential people at Oklahoma State are — then you would have to believe they are prepared to make Baker a substantial financial offer. It would almost certainly require Oklahoma State to dramatically increase what it has traditionally paid its athletic director, and potentially give Baker a significant raise over what he’s currently making at West Virginia.
And if Oklahoma State is willing to do that, this becomes a very real threat.
Baker has become an incredibly important figure at West Virginia during a period of massive change in college athletics. When he arrived in Morgantown in December 2022, he inherited an athletic department facing questions about the direction of its biggest programs and an industry that was rapidly changing around it. His background in fundraising was one of the biggest reasons WVU hired him in the first place. At North Texas, Baker oversaw record fundraising, helped produce the five largest gifts in school history and significantly increased ticket revenue and attendance.
Losing him now would be significant for West Virginia, particularly because of how much responsibility an athletic director carries in today’s version of college sports. This isn’t just about hiring and firing coaches anymore. Athletic directors are navigating revenue sharing, NIL, fundraising, conference politics, facilities, donor relationships and an increasingly professionalized model of college athletics.
And West Virginia would suddenly be looking for the person responsible for steering the entire department through all of that.
There is also something else that makes this situation interesting: Oklahoma State gave Weiberg a new four-year contract less than a year ago. The university publicly praised his leadership when the deal was approved in October 2025, and the agreement runs through December 31, 2029. So if Oklahoma State is legitimately considering replacing him with Baker now, that would represent a pretty dramatic change in direction.
That’s why it’s important not to get too far ahead of ourselves.
At this point, we have a report that some Oklahoma State leaders and regents are pushing for Baker, multiple sources apparently believing the possibility has significant momentum, and another source cautioning that the situation might not be as far along as others believe. That’s a long way from Wren Baker standing behind a podium in Stillwater wearing orange and black.
But the connections are impossible to ignore.
Oklahoma State is part of Baker’s story. Oklahoma is home. His wife is from Oklahoma. He went to school at Oklahoma State. His career began there. He worked under Eddie Sutton there. And now, more than two decades later, he has established himself as an experienced Power Four athletic director at West Virginia.
If Oklahoma State decides that Wren Baker is the man it wants to lead its athletic department into the next era of college sports — and is prepared to pay him accordingly — West Virginia may have a legitimate fight on its hands to keep him.
And based on the reports coming out of Stillwater today, this is a situation that could develop very quickly.
Could Wren Baker really leave West Virginia to go home to Oklahoma?
A few days ago, that question probably would’ve sounded crazy.
Today, it doesn’t sound crazy at all.
