At the end of the day – and more so with each passing year – college sports is a business operation. And part of running a business is understanding things such as branding and marketing.
Wren Baker, who currently serves as the athletic director for the West Virginia Mountaineers, understands all of that well. And he found the perfect opportunity in the NCAA Regional Round to push for a little bit of viral marketing without spending a cent.
Wren Baker discusses viral 'Country Roads' videos and their importance to West Virginia University
Wren Baker oversaw the sports marketing department during his time at Missouri, so he understands the importance of viral marketing well. When there are a lot of eyes on your brand, that's good for business. And when a home West Virginia crowd is on prime time television, there were plenty of eyeballs to draw to the post-game tradition of singing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" after a win.
"You can't by that kind of publicity," Baker said. That's good for our baseball program. It' good for our athletic program. It's good for our university and it's good for the state.
Wren Baker says #WVU's viral "Country Roads" moment during the College World Series run was about much more than social media numbers.
— WVSports.com (@WVSportsDotCom) June 29, 2026
He explains why the exposure was a win for the baseball program, the university and the entire state.
Read ▶️ https://t.co/QzRpghyv51 pic.twitter.com/5iLR1HCVC9
Baker knew ESPN broadcaster Tom Hart from their connection developed during Baker's time at Missouri, which is Hart's alma mater. He developed a relationship with Hart's partner Jensen Lewis over the weekend as well.
And after everyone saw the tradition play out during a Sunday night win over Kentucky, Baker pushed Hart and Lewis to have the whole song shown on the broadcast if the Mountaineers won again on Monday. From there, the eyeballs locked on West Virginia. How many of them? Over 155 million, according to ESPN.
"I give a lot of credit to Tom and Jensen," Baker said. "When you are a broadcast team, sometimes you think it's your job to describe the moment for your audience and in that moment, they realized the best description here was to let the moment play out without (speaking)."
With appearances on national news outlets from Fox News to NBC, and the song taking a life of it's own during the World Cup, where it was sung following a Team USA win, the entire world has West Virginia on their mind right now. And that's good for business.
"It has gone far beyond just a college sports audience," Baker said. "It's a worldwide phenomenon, and it's bringing attention to our athletic program, to our University and to our state."
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