📅 Published on: 2024-12-03 19:08:37

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West Virginia Director of Athletics Wren Baker shares some of the important facets he is looking for in the Mountaineers’ next …

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yeah so um thanks for uh being here today um you know it difficult couple of days difficult decision um coach Brown’s a tremendous tremendous colleague um in many many ways everything that you would want from a leader um did a great job helping build the infrastructure of this program um tremendous job um just making sure that we’re enriching um the lives of young people that they’re being academically success successful you know when you look at the fifth quarter program the chambers climbers program um those are things that he led the development of not not administratively uh we LED we’ve tried to support but those are things that that he led um so I got so much respect for him um the class Integrity he showed if I was to script out um how you’d want a couple of hard days to go um I couldn’t have scripted him to be any better in any classier than he’s been so I’ve got a chance to talk to him several times um I missed a uh St Francis basketball game last night because I was busy but I think he was there my wife uh satting there he and Brooke and had a chance to visit with them so I just want to say on behalf of of everybody here that thank you to him and and we’re very appreciative um and then I want to thank Chad Scott um those of you who had a chance to be around coach Scott he has an infectious enthusiasm about him and so I think he’s particularly suited for this role when you got young people that are going you know have a have a tough thing that happens to them and then they have to rebound get ready for a bowl game and so um he very quickly has rallied those guys and the staff’s been tremendous tremendous so um just from what uh the last couple of days uh look like got back Saturday um spent some time kind of thinking getting some rest met with Coach on uh Sunday a little after lunch um and we started to kind of walk through um where we were and how we were going to move forward um he let the team know um and the staff know that afternoon obviously the announcement went out and then yesterday spent the day I met with the team I met with the staff U met individually with some folks called some of our um uh recruits that had committed and um everybody here has done a great job just moving us forward so I’m very thankful for that um after today um I’ll send all of you guys’ calls to block or to voicemail uh lock in on trying to get this uh search done so we’ve been doing some work on it right now that net that we’ve cast is really wide so the next 24 hours will be will be narrowing that down starting to have some conversations um initially those will be Zoom type conversations then over the course of the next few days really getting that down to a handful that we would want to see um in person so that’s kind of what where where we’re at you guys know um I won’t establish a timeline because then people start getting really uh uh they freak out when you’re not on that timeline and you know there’s a lot of things that that affect the timeline we have potential candidates that’ll be coaching in championship games that kind of stuff and so um their availability you know they have an obligation to the team that they’re with to to to make sure that they’re doing their job there so those things just like you did with basketball we had candidates that were in NCA tournament and so you have to be respectful of them from a profile standpoint um you know pretty pretty open um you you all know uh you followed our searches before do a pretty good job uncovering who we talk to when you do the postmortem um you know I think we’re not limited to only head coaches or only coordinators um we want a proven leader somebody who can understand and embrace West Virginia um somebody that understands roster struction in this modern and and changing uh world of College athletics um from a revenue share uh perspective we do expect to be at or near the full participation in rev share so once we determine that football number there there’s a substantial amount of rev share um and that’s big part of the job now it wasn’t a few years ago but understanding how to use what is in essence kind of a a salary cap uh is a really important part of of of what you want but then it is important that we have a lead and and not just a coach um somebody who’s going to um U make sure academics and Life Enrichment is still important um those are things that Coach Brown did an unbelievable job uh doing and we want to continue uh someone with Integrity um I feel like that’s a non-negotiable u and so uh with that I’ll stop my opening remarks and and answer any questions you have great so so Ren I I know with the hiring in basketball you done some analytic works and and things that were important to you maybe style of play as much as anything I don’t know if it all equates to football but have you looked at some of those things and what are what is important to you and whoever It ultimately is yeah I think you know there’s several analytics programs that’ll tell you offensive efficiency uh defensive efficiency and and special teams efficiency as well um and so I think when you’re looking at head coaches you want to look at you know where they where their teams are now in all three of those categories where they’ve been so if they’ve lost coordinators have they been able to back fill and replace them with equally capable and talented people maybe even go back into when they were a coordinator if they were a coordinator and and and what it what they’ve done when you’re looking at people who are coordinators now um kind of the same thing like if they’ve been at multiple stops has there been a clear progression each step of the way obviously that interview process is a little different for them because maybe they’ve been focused on one side of the ball so you’re going to want to know philosophically uh what they Envision and maybe even get into potential candidates they may have but yeah I think uh for me data and analytics are very important they’re not the only thing that’s important um but but I do think um you know it’s it’s a way to make sure you’re not getting into um making decisions just based off emotions feel is a part of this process but but so but so is the data um when did you make the decision on on Neil um Saturday night in the Sunday um and um you know I know that there are people that say well you had to know before then or you had to no I I think it’s important that you keep your mind open and and let every data point arrive and so uh for me I’m not somebody who’s built to walk into a locker room with people um and be fake or phony and and um know that I’ve arrived at a conclusion and not given them a chance to get every day to point in so you’re evaluating every day but you’re considering all of those uh data points so really um it was when I got back and had some time uh overnight Saturday and in the Sunday to to really look holistically at where we were at with our program um and what I thought put us in the best position moving forward to kind of follow up on Cody’s question because there’s been speculation all year but did the impact of the result on Saturday’s game and Leck play into that at all even though you’re evaluating things at that after that point I think the impact of every game if you’re going to consider every data point then um yeah they all matter um um and it’s about uh each data point how they fit together um and how you feel like uh your position moving forward uh to to to move the program into the most successful Place possible um you know and the way that College athletics is now your path to success uccess and is to get into the cfp and your path to do that is to compete within your league and so I think all of those League games matter um for for that reason Ren when you were hiring the basketball coach you said head coaching experience obviously was important how important is it this time around and also how much is power five power four experience um I do value head coaching experience so every person who who uh sits in in these chairs um has their own path and that’s led into the way that you see things right if we all looked at an issue or problem um your history and and your personal experiences affects the way that you view something um so I was a head coach for a short period of time in basketball and I know the transition that I had to make when I was in that that chair and I know how much I grew in that year and and the things I was ready for and the things that I wasn’t I think what’s different in football is when you have somebody who’s uh been a coordinator they really kind of are the head coach for that for for their side of the ball um and so um I think it’s really important to dig in on whatever side that they weren’t involved in what’s their plan what’s their what’s their knowledge what’s their experience how do they Envision it fitting together um but you know I I think head coaching experience if there’s a tie that’s important but in football I probably view it a little differently than than basketball because um there are ways that you kind of get that same that same experience Mr two questions uh number one uh was there ever any discussion or thought of letting him Coach the bowl game or maybe that wouldn’t have been fair to him or just you know something along yeah it it didn’t come up um I think I would have been open to it but it just you know once you’re at the end um like this uh it it probably is is more uh emotionally draining on everybody to to do that than than not do that um and I did ask him for his his opinion on interim leadership um and um you know and and and he thought uh coach Scott would be great um and then we kind of have Mike Joseph so we told Coach Scott focus on the football stuff you know we want to simplify this Mike Joseph who’s been here a long time very highly regarded and respected um we’ve got him kind of on the non-f football stuff so not only he I got texts from him as I was walking in um you know letting me know who was here today for weights and and how things are going academically and those kind of things and so we’ve asked Mike to kind of you know um have that holistic View and Coach Scott to focus on the football view unrelated um ever since uh you kind of brought out the spreadsheets when coach D I’m kind of fascinated with the spreadsheets to be honest with you my staff’s not near as fascinated with it they get tired of looking at it um my I gu what my question is is you can obviously learn a lot on those spreadsheets I mean obviously um there’s probably some intangibles that you can’t find on a spreadsheet H how do you handle that that that kind of yeah you know been in this for 20 years now um know a lot of people know a lot of coaches um know a lot of Administrators so generally I can get to somebody who’s worked with somebody or knows them get and get different viewpoints and you know as we narrow this down right now right like without giving an exact number there’s a large number that’s in consideration so talking to three or four people about each of those would be counterproductive to getting this across the Finish Line as as quickly as we can but once we narrow that down some I’ll want to talk to people that’s worked for these this candidate um people who the candidates worked for people who’s coached against them um you know people um just all those different viewpoints um you know I think think with coost de reeze I even found somebody I knew that had played for him um you know and so uh those are all um you know viewpoints that you want it’s a big decision it’s important for um the university and and here it’s important I think for the health and well-being um financially and morale wise and and other of the state and so I recognize the magnitude of it and so you want to make sure that you did not leave a stone unturned when you get to that point out of curiosity how many phone calls will you make over this process oh man a lot you know I mean it would be way into the dozens probably you know hundreds by the time we’re done that you know that I make and take right like um and and right now you return one call and there’s five more messages waiting so you have to get to I I’m big on always trying to reply to everything but I I’ve learned in these searches um you just have to a lot of them just just hold off until um until we uh and return them afterwards let’s go to John um other job openings I guess power conference uh the signing day the transfer portal window how does all that fit into what you’re you’re doing here moving forward yeah um it’s fascinating right um and and it was a big concern of mine going into this we had Signing Day on Wednesday um portal opens believe on the 9th um you got a bowl game and and you know we’re hoping we can play in an earlier bowl game uh because I think our kids are pretty excited to stay together and play uh in a bowl game but you know obviously if if it’s a late game um that portal becomes a bigger factor it’s open for 20 days or so um now once you’re in you’re in but if you can play a game before that thing closes um you you you got a better chance to to have better participation at the bowl game um but that was all a that’s all a factor but you just finally John get to a place where you realize like hey I can’t control any of those factors um and what’s important here is that I put us in the best window we can to to make a decision um you know the the other jobs uh that open I I knew if you would have asked me a month ago and said what are the jobs that could open all of them except for maybe UCF um I knew could open um and so uh but again you guys I think I said this in the basketball search we have I have a job to do to make sure all of the puzzle pieces are on the table for whoever we hire and then that we hire the best person to assemble those puzzle pieces that that Universe of candidates is not one of one right and so somebody else’s timeline or their their process or what they’re doing um ultimately uh is not going to affect the the way I’m very comfortable that we have a good process I can’t guarantee the outcome of every process like I told president G um he he said we’ve been really pleased with your hires here so far and I said well if I could guarantee they were all going to be a success you couldn’t afford me I’d be charging about 500 Grand a pop to go work a week uh and I I’d have more business than I could than I could handle um so they’re all their own Journey um but I think I we have developed a process that I feel really good about where it leads us to and so we’re going to stick with our with our process we have quite a few people on the list I’ll call on you in order that they come in Kevin current assistants whose contracts extend past the end of this month or next month what is their status will they all be bought out the part also and also have you received any indication of which one of those may or may not stay for bowl games um so far you know what I told everybody is that one we’re going to treat people the way we’d want to be treated with class and and and um you know we’re not going to just throw anybody out all of a sudden you know there’s different kinds of contracts and different links on those contracts and so um you know we want to make it as my ask of our staff was do what’s right for our program and our kids as long as you’re an employee here and I’ll do what’s right by you um and I I was very honest about that and they’ve all been very very honest about that I mean I think we’re going to have a good signing day tomorrow and that took a bunch of people reaching out to kids and their families um assuring them that this program is in a good place and that you know that we’re all working together um in terms of beyond the bowl game and then you know like we have some really talented people here they they may be getting chances to interview or take jobs and I just ask them as long as you’re employed by us you come in and do the best job by WVU and our kids every day and keep us updated on other opportunities I get it um but then um we got a lot of really good quality people um you know I I don’t know the exact number but we’ve probably got 50 60 people you know in this building um and so um when a new coach is identified um if if they want to keep a lot of those people I think that’s great you know some of them um they don’t report up through football like our Sports Medicine people right like for for reasons of protecting health and safety student athletes those positions aren’t beholden to who your who your coach is and so you know some of those people doesn’t affect as directly um but that that’s kind of the way that we’ve handled it with our staff and right now everybody uh else that’s in the program is here still employed and still doing their job if you walk through the Halls today you’d see you’d see them all doing their job to position coaches where it weights this morning encouraging the kids everybody’s here and doing doing uh doing right by WVU none of the assistants that have contracts that stretch a year or further right now will be terminated right now you’re going to let this process play out first that’s right that’s right Michel based off the conversation you’ve had after a few seasons without National contention how attractive is this job going in the next two well I think it’s an attractive job one because of the fans um you know you you saw this year and everybody made a big deal after uh for about the attendance at the last game they need to go back and look at that game historically especially uh when there’s a weather issue I mean I was here at the Cincinnati game last year first time we played Cincinnati a long time it was a nine- win season crowd wasn’t a whole lot different than this one you know the students are gone the dorms are closed it’s um but um other than that one week when we open the the gates people are coming and not there’s not very many programs in the country um that that can say that and so people know the passion of our fans and and that’s that’s really important it was important when I came here um you know you want to be somewhere where it matters to people um then I think when you look at the big 12 everybody knows it’s wide open um and um being a geog graic outlier has some disadvantages travel is an issue and stuff but it also has some advantages right you’re not stuck recruiting the same kids as those you you recruiting Footprints different you’re you can you know you have a little different something to sell and so what I’ve heard from people is they know this is a his history Rich program they know that the Big 12 is wide open as evidenced by this year and and you know you look at um Arizona State where they were last year and where they are this year um and and they know know that the fan support here is great and that it means a lot to people and so I think those are really good selling points is it is there are there challenges to this job yeah there’s challenges to every job um but I I I think most coaches um understand that that every job has its challenges right I mean um and so uh but that there’s there’s enough here to be highly successful uh hi Ren two-part two- part question really looking at the um like the 30-day window um I know you’re saying you don’t want to put out a timeline but to yourself with that 30-d window how much does that kind of force you to condense the hiring timeline so you can get a new guy in who can go to the signes can go to the guys before the portals close before the transfer um opportunities close to kind of re-recruit them so that you know that guy has the time to kind of fortify a roster and then on top of that with that and with Revenue sharing all this stuff how much do all these new factors complicate a hiring process in ways that you know when you had to do this before in previous Seasons they just weren’t there yeah um so first part of that I always used the old I think it was a John Wooden quote originally and and maybe it was in who hoers later but be quick but don’t hurry um I understand that the quicker that we can get this search done the better position we put the new staff in however you can’t uh misfire and get it wrong cuz you you were you were Russian and so um we’re going to take the time that it takes um that’s what we did with men’s basketball we got that one done very efficiently a week or so um you know um but I also would say that one is a was less complex than this one right so um but the reality is that that you want to retain as much talent as you can we got some great players we got some great human beings in the locker room that I would love to stay here we’ve got people that are from the area they want to be here um but you look at men’s basketball um you know they’ were they’ve done a good job assembling a roster and it only has one player um that that was here last year and so that transfer portal works both ways um it gives people chance to replenish and um then they get another chance in the spring summertime after Spring ball um so um you know that’s that’s probably the way I look at that I understand the the the quicker we can go the better position we’ll be in but I I just refuse to feel rushed um to to do it um it is a fascinating and and complicated time in college athletes like listen there’s a reason why um Jay Wright Tony Bennett Mike Shashi um even Bob Stoops a handful of years like people as as this has changed it’s different right coach Sav he when he was here he and I talked about it I I don’t think he was ready to be done coaching but it he wasn’t ready to to to face everything that was going to change in the New World um and so um I think those do complicate the search and you and from my perspective you can’t just get somebody that only knows schematics and football anymore like understanding capology is important like you get like that’s a big part of this job um and and having a plan for how you’re going to staff those Talent evaluators how you’re going to staff the the economic folks you know that are helping you make decisions on how much to spend on a on a position group and how much to spend on a player in that position group because of all of those numbers are connected um you know that’s not something that I’m an expert in all of it will roll up to me because you’re going to have each sport will kind of have a number but then you have that 20 and a half million dollar cap so you’re having to make sure that everybody’s numbers are rolling up correctly uh to to ensure uh that the Cap’s not not over um so um yeah it complicates it but um you know that’s exist for everybody at every school and so it’s something to work through you brought up the legendary Bob Herzel very legendary in his own mind uh you brought up the uh fan base uh situation and and you know how it affects positively did it have any effect however the apathy that seemed to come up the social media the bad on the head the Billboards did that have any effect on your decision to to end this early no um listen I love fans I want to be careful how I answer this and I have love and felt endeared to the people here very similar to where I grew up in Oklahoma my family loves it here um but I mean you know fans are not necessarily rational reasonable people right so um and that’s what makes them you know that’s what makes Sports unbelievable like you can work a an 8 to five Monday through Friday job um even I mean even if you’re a preacher and you can come and act a fool and at games tell the referees how terrible they are and that they’re blind and you know all all of that stuff and so um I I listen I want the fans to be happy after every game but you can’t run an athletic department by fan sentiment um on any particular day after a big game you’d get everybody rais an extension after a bad loss you’d fire everybody you’d be so so far into the red financially that uh so um I I I do a good job of blocking that stuff out um and U you know I I have a quote on my wall at home that says both praise and criticism are poison pills and so when times are good I don’t I try not to overreact you know I mean there are times when times are good that I get emails saying back the Brinks truck up don’t ever lose this coach whatever you have to do you know and then you lose and and and same person wants you to fire the same coach and so like you know like th those things you can’t you just you have to set that aside I think as an ad you let fans be fans and then you you try to make sure that you’re making decisions based on data facts author thought process and stay away from the emotion of it frustrating thing about this Seas I mean because you came in you know with the football team with very high hopes and you know and it went it went astray yeah I think I think Coach Brown and I would both say it was just every time we felt like there was a chance to get some momentum um we just couldn’t you know we couldn’t get there so you know know it we we uh didn’t play as well as we thought we could and should in that opener against Penn State now Penn State’s very talented right and they’re they’re going to be in the playoffs they might win a National Championship who knows um but you know I think I think we didn’t play as well as we would like that pit loss certainly that that hurt and then when you have opportunities to get it back couple big opportunities here at home weren’t able to seize those and so I think really um you know th those were hard CU because when you had chances to kind of get yourself back to to uh some momentum and get back in the race for the conference Championship um you could and that was that was something that um you know put everything else aside you know um staying in the race for the conference Championship and you know after every loss there you know there’s people that want to know like are you going to do something in the midd season so so that we can clear this up for all future discussion unless there’s something illegal immoral or unethical happening I will never do anything during the season it doesn’t do anything positive for your program all it does is is negative and So for anybody that might want to ask me that in the future I’ll just answer it for a permanent uh reason that that you will never see me do that um and so um but um I uh yeah I mean you know I I think that’s probably what was the most disappointing just when you had chances to seize momentum back we just couldn’t quite get over the hump Mike I one is kind of touching on what you mentioned before but you had to put pece on the table for whoever comes in and you’ve said that the letter to the fans you have to have certain things to spend more what do you have to give a coach that’s an upgrade or Improvement or an addition to what you have right now yeah I I think we we’ve there’s a lot of things that go into that right and um and I know this is the other thing I know the the data of everything that we have I know where our head coach pay ranks our assistance pull pay ranks I know where our budget ranks our travel budget ranks I know how we travel relative to everybody else like I have all of that um in kind of a another competitive Excellence spreadsheet um so for and I have it for every sport I know where we where we are uh in those areas in in every sport and so if you look at where we’re at we’re kind of in that 10 11 12 range in most of those categories all right um but our expectation as a as a fan base and I’m not saying this isn’t fair is to be in that top third of the league and so I think if your funding is is in the bottom third your expectation are in the top third that becomes really tough and so one of the things that we we’re making sure that we do particularly when it comes to revshare is that we’re going to be in that top third uh and that U because all of those things are important but but revshare has moved to the top of the list by far in terms of most importance if you want to consistently be competitive and to be able to retain um and retain those rosters and so you know when we when we transitioned out of the Big East um into the Big 12 the Big 12 historically had all those Texas institutions in it and historically those Texas institutions have money and they fund things really well so what that happen what happens is everybody that was in that League then is fighting from a resource perspective to come to keep up with those Texas schools who who we know if you’ve ever been to Texas and been in bies you know the mentality of of Texans um and so um I think for us we’ve been playing catchup that whole time right but but unfortunately they’re not sitting there waiting on us to catch up everybody else is is growing so those of you that that travel to some other venues like I keep talking about how we have to build more Suites and club seats we have the lowest number of of Premium seats in the Big 12 and those premium seats it don’t it isn’t just so you have something shiny and new there’s big dollars that come in with those and so I think after the first of year you’ll see us roll out definitively some some renovation uh plans and start to raise money uh very seriously trying trying to fix that um but in the interim um one of the things we have to make make sure we’re doing is the Rev share piece and we have a really good plan to be fully full participants in the Rev share which will give us the best chance to compete that that we’ve had probably in quite some time all the nuances to the sport and the business now you would like to have someone who’s familiar with it with that I’m not sure disqualify as a word but push you away from FCS coach or a group of four excuse me group of five guy who’s just hasn’t had to deal with that but it’s inevitable at this level today it wouldn’t push me away but I think the interview is a little different for them they have to go in much more detail for their plan so before I had ever been in ad for instance I had this pretty uh attractive full color book uh that had um all of these things philosophically that I would do if I was an ad and how I would set things up if I was interviewing for a job now or even when I interviewed for this job I didn’t have one of those because I could talk about what I did at the places that I’d been in ad so you you don’t have to prove the concept as much as you have to point to to um what you’ve been able to accomplish so I would put it that way Mike you know that um it doesn’t mean that disqualifies those candidates it does mean when they come to the interview process they probably have to have a very very detailed and specific um plan on on how they would address those things that they didn’t maybe hadn’t had to address in their current job um the one unique thing about you and your recent coaching hires comparison to past ads at the program is you yourself came in without a tie to West Virginia or without W tie your coaches that you’ve hired haven’t had that and they’ve been successful so far but that’s just a factual situation what is your opinion on the necessity for some fans to have a coach that does of a West Virginia or W Thai because those names everyone knows are always immediately thrown out when jobs are open and if a Coach does not have a tie does that like you’re saying require them to do something else in terms of their sales pitch and why they be right for the job where do you stand and how would you speak to the people that say I hear that person’s resumee who and rumors and reports but I want a West Virginia W tie at this job yeah I think my job is to find the best candidate for the job um if the best candidate has WVU ties great if they if they’ve been if they’ve lived or worked or been in West Virginia great um if they’re not the best candidate that’s still the wrong decision um and so um I think for me um you take all that in I’ve said this before I think what’s really important here is that you hire somebody that that has a desire and a heart to come in and really Embrace West Virginia because it is important to people here um you know like anytime I have a free weekend both by- weekends and football I traveled to State uh went to different places um I think it’s just important that um that I get to everywhere I want to make sure that I that that I get in every County like you know and and when I ask somebody where they’re from every anytime I meet somebody ask them where they’re from and ask them about it um I just think it’s important that people understand this is the state’s pro team this program this University mean a lot to the state and if you’re going to have one of the most prominent positions at this institution you’re going to have one of the most prominent positions uh in the state and you have to really Embrace um that that everybody in this state um wants wants you to know a little bit about where they live and and how important it is to them and so I think that’s really important the other thing I’ve talked about before you have to find people and there are great coaches who aren’t capable of this um who are comfortable living in a fishbowl um you know like if you’re the football coach at West Virginia University you are the most recognizable person in this state so just think about that you’re never going to stop and get gas you’re never going to walk into a convenience store you’re never going to go into the grocery store and and buy anything um where people don’t know who you are um you can feel the eyes fall on you you can you know like and for some people they can’t handle they can handle the pressure on game days they can’t handle um that you can’t ever get away from it um and so I I spend a lot of time talking about that and trying and trying to make sure that whoever we bring in understands that because there’s a little bit of of of that that um until you experience it you you don’t fully probably comprehend what it is in back Ren have you developed a full plan or at least a framework for how you’re going to split up the revenue share money among Sports and if not do you have a deadline when you feel like hey this is when I’ve got to tell all of the coaches here’s what you’re going to have to work with next year yeah so um we’re working with um our general counsel well my staff in athletics the university General Council we have outside uh Council to make sure that that we’re doing things that as we divide that Revenue share up that we’re doing it for non-discriminatory reasons and and compliant with title line and and and those things so um we have a pretty good idea of what that range will be but but the way that the settlement is it’s based off the last financials which we’re submitting now right and so until they’re they go through the process of being validated and and and all of that um there’s a little bit of unknown but we pretty well know within a certain range of where it’s going to be and so so you know my what I’ve been doing is giving our coaches um particularly um football and and uh basketball um because those are the the the sports that that a lot of it will go to um what I what I think they can expect and and I’m conservative just because I know there could be some variation your plan is to distribute full total of what you’re allowed to yes time we try to get in a few more here um uh using a search firm again yes um you know I feel like search firm one I don’t so when I start these processes they don’t start by giving me a list I start by giving them a list um because I’ve been work you know as you guys know we talked about this um I do a list every year um whether I need it or not I just think it’s good to be prepared for it um I think it’s a healthy exercise um if you’re having having a great year you’re always worried about retaining your coach if you’re having a year that’s not great you’re all you’re thinking about what if we have to make a move or something changes here um and so um you know early on in my career um I had a coach at 50 years old that passed away over the summer mowing his yard like suddenly right and so like you don’t know when those things will happen and um you want to always be prepared um and so uh but the search firm one um they’re very good at getting background ination I mean it’s their job right so like they they dig up things that you may or may not have dug up on your own even with a hundred phone calls um two they always are working a step ahead of you so when you’re talking to this group of candidates and you’d be amazed sometimes you think you have five candidates you don’t know how you’re going to choose one and you look up and you’re down to two and you don’t love either of them and now you’re having to go back and and bring in more into the process so they’re always working a step or two ahead of you um thinking about those things and then I think the third thing is is when you’re just an individual school out there sometimes you can waste time with a candidate and all they’re trying to do is create leverage to get a different deal where they are but search firms they’re involved in a lot of searches so agents and and individual candidates they don’t want to mess up a relationship with a search firm so you get leverag less when you have a search firm involved and then the last thing is there’s a confidentiality piece that that they’re able to you know to communicate on your behalf with people so that you know Mike’s fo your requests yield no results so the same one uh we’re using Parker search this time obviously you know this year and even going back the last couple years uh the topic of Neil’s buyout contract buyout was a popular topic around the water cooler so to speak which water cooler is this at your office all water and holes maybe too um so you know when you hire your new guy how much does that thought of hey this maybe these buyouts in the past you know haven’t worked or maybe they have how much will that kind of go into your thought process because you know you’re going to have to negotiate a new one with the new guys yeah um well it’s all relative to who your target is um and you have to be competitive right and so you know um those agents when you get ready to talk to to them about you know what you’re going to pay um they’re going to show you all the salaries in your league how much of it is guaranteed what the incentive packages are and they’re going to say do you really want to send a message you’re not as committed as school X you know and so there’s a back and forth of that um I think we’ve done a really good job here when we’ve hired people of um being fair and understanding what their what their perspective is what the institution’s perspective is um but you know people can sit around and say well I wouldn’t guarantee X well then you won’t get a very good candidate pool cuz other people in the marketplace I mean I told you know we know there’s three other jobs that look pretty similar to ours um so if you want to wait until they’re done and take what’s left I guess you could you could have that strategy but I think you know you want the but the other thing it does is if you bring somebody in they have a lot of success it puts you so far behind in the next deal right and then they remember that and so it’s just a a little bit of trust a little bit of trying to do the right thing a little bit of of where you know what the market is dictating um you know I know that people feel different ways about the extension we gave deal I thought it was a very fair deal you know um he he won uh nine games we had a good year we had a lot of uh of of young people coming back um it didn’t change the total amount owed to him very much and it and it distributed it differently well you know because we went from 100% guarantee to 75% it reduced this year’s commitment by a million and and what people don’t understand it’s not the big number that you’re that worried about it’s where how you’re paying that out and so you know his is going out over four uh fiscal years because we changed fiscal years in July so you know like so it you know you you spread that out a little bit um um and there was some methodology to that you know cash today is worth more more than cash four years from now right and so um by pushing that out some I I I thought where we arrived last year was very fair to all parties involved and I’m i’ like I would um I defend that decision people can criticize that’s fine you know I’m really interested in your opinion on this from a University from A administrative standpoint even from an agent standpoint buyouts will get termed as protections isn’t it just gambling though I in in reality I mean a school’s betting oh this is going to be a great coach we’ll never have to pay that money well there are no Surefire things in athletics right I mean look at Florida State season last year and this year um and you know and and last year um their coach had some significant interest from some significant you know players and I think Mike Norville is a great coach but like this season you know there’s probably a lot of people questioning um his contract and so yeah you can’t there are no guarantees you know right like I mean you just make the best decision you can uh with the with the best information you can but you know as somebody who has set on both sides of the negotiating table right like I have a contract um I’ve had people reach out to me about jobs like if you have if you have a deal and there’s another deal on the table like you I’m not making a decision on what my own contract is right the people that are in charge of me uh is and so that it’s kind of just taking all of the data that that you have and and surveying the landscape and making the best most calculated decision that you can one that’s not emotional you know like um and and that you know makes sense at the time okay we’re GNA take three more questions quickly and that’s it single questions going off Mike’s question about instate ties West Virginia obviously has a unique history with successful coaches so it’s natural that Jim B Fisher Rich Rod Rez would come up can can you give us anything on those two guys in your opinion no um I won’t talk about any individual candidates um I just you know here’s what I would tell people is we’re casting a wide net I think anybody um that that has credentials and expresses interest will vet out May ultimately have a discussion with but at the end of this we’re going to follow our process and we’re going to hire the best person for the job um and and that’s the way it is like you know when I had to have those tough meetings Sunday or Monday nobody was sitting there with me it was me um you know up here today um I made Michael come he didn’t want to come but um I made Michael come up here and so like people just have to understand like ultimately myself president the board are going to be held accountable for the decisions we make um you know I’m 46 I got two daughters they spend a lot of money I got to do this a few few more years I’m going to make the best decision I can with the information that I have um and so you know um so that’s about that’s probably what you know I wouldn’t comment on any specific uh candidate um other than to say you know I I beg coach saving to let me come in and try and sell Miss Terry uh on one more ride and and he didn’t think that would set me up for Success so the football the higher that that inspires fans right there it’s excitement back just they’re an aesthetic you’re looking for I don’t know if it’s offense because that would get people going again defense because that’s been lacking is it an attitude and Edge like I understand ex and O’s and culture all that but is there something intangible that you search for that you have to restore over my 20 years of doing this you know what I think inspires fans winning um and so that’s I’m not worried about win in a press conference or necessarily getting people um excited when they read the press release I want somebody that gives me the most confidence they can come in here and win and same thing we talk about scheduling right like people talk about oh um you know I want you to play these tough teams well like here’s what I know when you when you’re winning eight nine 10 games a year people are a lot more excited and you’re winning less than that um and so uh I’d rather be winning and people excited and maybe criticizing we should have played a tougher schedule than to play a really tough schedule like if you look in the Big 12 right now and you look at everybody’s rankings there is a direct correlation to their strength of schedule and where they are right now um and so that that’s a fact like I know the numbers I I know everybody’s strength of schedule and every metric that’s available and I and I have I can project out what our record would be with all the different strength the schedules right and so um so I think Mike rather than saying Hey I want somebody who’s known for shut down defense somebody who’s known for off the charts Charisma somebody who’s known for scoring a bunch of points and exciting in ative offense I want somebody who can sit with our uh with with me and our search committee and convince us that they can build a program that that can win and sustain sustain winning last question so um you mentioned a lot of calls that you’re going to make um how many calls to boosters alums the Nick Sabin Pat mcafe the world do you have conversations with them or you tune that out um yeah I think you always want to make make sure that you’re talking uh to people who are knowledgeable um and and who have a lot of love for the program now there comes a point where you have to shut that down because um if you’re taking all those calls one eventually it’s going to turn to um what candidates are you focused on and um like that just leaks and and then those people get freaked out you know other people in the market know that you’re who you’re talking to and then maybe they jump on somebody trying to get ahead of you and so it’s just best to shut all that out um but yeah you you know I mean our uh our key boosters either myself or or one of our staff members um are reaching out to um just kind of tell them plan and process um you know um I I think it would be foolish if you can um you know if if Don ne’s here in town and had a lot of success here if you don’t call him and and I did last night and talked to him for a few minutes um you know if you have an access to somebody like Nick Sabin um yeah you’re going to talk to him um you know I would not have uh you know if Pat hadn’t said yesterday that he and I talked I wouldn’t have I wouldn’t have put it out there but you know listen he is um we are getting millions and millions of dollars of earned media value because his his un apologetic love of his Amma moer um and so uh I recognize that um and um and so yeah you know I wanted to have a conversation uh with him um you know he and I wouldn’t say that we’ve developed a close friendship because he’s busy and has a lot to do but we’ve developed a a relationship and I I appreciate um how much he loves uh he loves his his school his university and um so yeah you you want to make sure that people know here’s our process this is what we’re doing they have comfort and confidence it doesn’t mean that you’re going to arrive at where they would arrive or what they want to happen but as long as as as you’re um you know making sure that they know that you’re following a robust process I think you end up in a good place okay that’s all the time we have thank you all for coming this concludes our press conference appreciate you guys I’ll go back to denying all of your phone calls and wish you wish you well till we see each other on the other side of this search thank you

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