WVU Athletic Director Wren Baker speaks to a group of Parkersburg High School students Wednesday for their Sports In American Culture class. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

PARKERSBURG — The Sports In American Culture class at Parkersburg High School has had the opportunity to speak to sports legends via Zoom throughout the year that include Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, Oakland A’s exec Billy Bean, Olympic Gold Medalist Greg Louganis, and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney.

On Wednesday the students got to speak to West Virginia University Athletic Director Wren Baker in person as he stopped by the school to speak to students about his role at the university, to offer advice and even talk about recent events with basketball coach Bob Huggins who used an anti-gay slur in a radio interview earlier this week.

“Those things happen,” Baker said. “As an athletic director, every night I go to bed over a thousand dormant volcanoes, you never know which one is going to erupt. When you have a couple hundred employees, and several hundred student athletes, people are going to make mistakes. It’s not my first rodeo in that regard, and I’m glad we were able to find resolution on this one.”

Baker said there are some things Huggins has to do and that they have to learn from things together. A release from the university stated, “the Athletics Department will partner with WVU’s LGBTQ+ Center to develop annual training sessions that will address all aspects of inequality including homophobia, transphobia, sexism, ableism and more. This training and programming will be required of Coach Huggins and all current and future athletics coaching staff.”

Baker began his role as athletic director in December and was asked about the interview process he went through. He said his initial interview was done via Zoom with WVU President E. Gordon Gee, Oliver Luck, former athletic director at WVU, and another top administrator, that lasted about 45 minutes.

WVU Athletic Director Wren Baker, center, poses for a picture with Parkersburg High School students after speaking to them in the school auditorium for their Sports In American Culture class. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

“We had a really good conversation, it was more casual, we didn’t go deep diving,” Baker said. “But it’s hard to zoom interview. …It’s tougher to read the room, it’s tougher to read body language, it’s tougher to connect with people.”

Baker said he was then invited to do an in-person interview in Atlanta. He said the second interview lasted about an hour and a half.

“I just tried to be myself,” Baker told the students. “I have always interviewed better when I didn’t feel pressure. I’ve got Jordans on right now, and I think I wore Jordans that day, if they were going to hire me I wanted them to know who I am. But it went well.”

Baker was asked what he thought was the biggest strengths and weaknesses the university has.

“I think the biggest strength is that passion,” Baker said. “There’s not very many people that command the statewide support that we do.”

He said one of the biggest weaknesses the university faces is geography.

“We spend more on travel than anyone else spends,” Baker said. “That’s tough, and we’re not dealing with one of the bigger budgets in the league. You put those two factors together, it’s going to always mean that we have to be more efficient with our other resources.”

Baker closed by answering what advice he would give to students at the school.

“Don’t panic if you don’t know what you want to do,” Baker said. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do and changed majors as a junior (in college).”

He said his parents were furious when he told them he was changing his major from computer science to education. He said his goal was to teach and coach in a public school.

“It’s ok to take a little time to figure that out,” Baker said. “What’s really important is that you’re working hard, you’re passing your classes, enjoy every moment of what’s left of your senior year here, of college, because the responsibility that comes after you’re out of college, it’s just not as much fun.”

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com