North Texas Daily

Reece Waddell | Senior Staff Writer

@ReeceWaddell15

Following a unanimous 5-0 vote the UNT board of regents named Wren Baker North Texas’ new athletic director in a teleconference Friday afternoon. Baker takes over for long-time athletic director Rick Villarreal, who announced his resignation in May.

An Oklahoma native, Baker assumes the position of athletic director at UNT after serving as both deputy athletic director and interim athletic director at the University of Missouri last year.

“It’s a homecoming of sorts for the Baker family,” Baker said during a teleconference with the board of regents. ” We’ve heard nothing but great things about the community. We love what we’ve seen so far and cain’t wait to get to work. We think the ceiling is very high and great things are ahead.”

Prior to Missouri, Baker was the deputy director of athletics at the University of Memphis and the athletic director at Northwest Missouri State.

During Baker’s tenure as athletic director at Rogers State from 2006-2011, he was the youngest athletic director in the country among four-year universities.

Baker’s arrival in Denton comes in the midst of a transitionary and rebuilding period for the football program. Under first year head-coach Seth Littrell, the Mean Green will attempt to improve upon its 1-11 mark from 2015 – a record that tied for worst in school history.

Along with aiding in the football team’s hopeful turnaround, Baker will also have several other key decisions to make, most notably whether or not to retain men’s basketball head coach Tony Benford after this season. Benford is currently in the fifth and final year of his contract.

This will be Baker’s fifth position in athletics administration.

This article will be updated.

Featured Image: Courtesy | University of Missouri Athletic Department