By Bob Hertzel for The Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN — In the midst of his annual school year opening press conference, West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker decided to take it upon himself to emphasize an often-overlooked aspect of Mountaineers football that benefits the state in so many ways.
Talking about his efforts to extend the Backyard Brawl series, which plays its last scheduled meeting this year, while building a schedule that benefits the team’s efforts to succeed, Baker said:
“We’re trying to build a schedule that affords our team the best opportunity to have the kind of season they need to have to advance to the CFP. That’s the end goal. But we’re also trying to build a schedule that brings people to West Virginia, to Morgantown.
“I’m a huge believer that when you look at the economics of our state and the opportunities to create businesses in our state, tourism is one of, if not the biggest. I think it’s a responsibility of ours to promote tourism for the state. I’ll just say that we have spent hours and hours and hours analyzing scheduling opportunities. I think we have a pretty executable plan, no matter what happens in the next few days, and we’ll be able to execute it pretty quickly.”
