MORGANTOWN — To Athletic Director Wren Baker this weekend was one of triumph and it had far less to do with Best Virginia than it did with West Virginia University.

While the state’s sports fans were focused on The Basketball Tournament’s matchup between the WVU’s alter ego named Best Virginia and Marshall’s named Herd That, Baker was crossing the T’s while dotting the I’s as he tried to solidify his coaching roster which previously had seemed to be built on a foundation of Jell-o.

On Friday he showed that success would be rewarded to productive coaches who displayed not only ability but loyalty as he worked out a new contract with baseball coach Steve Sabins that honored a guaranteed one-year extension through 2030 by adding a year to that for reaching the NCAA Tournament, extending the deal through 2031.

He also finalized a memorandum of understanding with men’s basketball coach Ross Hodge that they had agreed to in March and put it into final language. It contained a 21-page contract that was finished and signed by both men this weekend.

At the same time, he and women’s coach Mark Kellogg worked out a new agreement that could keep him in Morgantown for seven more years and pay him $5.2 million in salary while also negotiating a deal that keeps seven-time NCAA champion rifle coach Jonathan Hammond in Morgantown through 2030.

Kellogg is entering his third year at WVU and has 25 wins in each of his first two seasons while Hammond will begin his 20th season looking for a second consecutive national title.

The new contract with Sabins included financial rewards that brought the total value of that contract to $3.675 million while Hodge’s five-year deal is worth $15 million.

Sabins’ new contract has a base salary of half a million a year with supplemental pay each season that maxes out at $175,000 in 2030-2031, which will give him a total salary of $675,000 that year.

Hodge’s base salary is half of Sabins’ at $250,000 per season but his supplementary pay ranges from $2.55 million to $2.95 million per season, making his total salary package come to an average of $3 million per season, which would have ranked in the bottom third of the Big 12 last season, according to USA Today.

Hodge is making the same $2.8 million salary that Darian DeVries was scheduled to receive this season.

The buyouts have changed so that if Sabins leaves early, he owes the school 25% of whatever base salaries remain on the contract while if WVU breaches the deal and fires Sabins, the school owes him 75% of what remains due.

Hodge’s buyout for leaving early is hooked into Baker continuing as AD at WVU. If he left before April 26, next year, he would owe WVU 75% of his remaining salary or 56.35% if he left between May 1, 2026 and April 30, 2027. However, if Baker were to no longer be athletic director, the percentage would drop to 37.5%.

If WVU fires Hodge “for convenience” on or before April 30, 2027, it would owe him the entire amount of his salary, and if it fired him on or after May 1, 2027, it would owe him 75%.

That Sabins’ new contract offers no change in his incentive package emphasizes strongly that the purpose of the new deal was to reward him for an unexpectedly strong season in which WVU won the Big 12 regular season and reached the Super Regional for the second time in school history and attempt to guarantee his financial satisfaction over the length of the deal.

Baker, obviously, is tired of conducting coaching searches. While he has done some shrewd hiring, retention has proved to be a problem as he has had four basketball coaches in the last four years — Bob Huggins, Josh Eilert, DeVries and Hodge.

At the same time, he has had three women’s basketball coaches as Mark Kellogg enters his second season and, of course, wound up putting in motion a sensible and smooth running transition from baseball coach Randy Mazey, who was retiring, and Sabins.

Baker also wound up firing football coach Neal Brown after a disappointing season last year and wound up recycling Rich Rodriguez into the job after a 17-year absence; a hire that was controversial at the least and that may define Baker’s legacy at the most.

Hodge’s incentive package includes $20,000 for making the NCAA Tournament but failing to make the Final Four and then will make $30,000 for the second-round, $40,000 more for a Sweet 16 spot, another $40,000 for an Elite Eight run, then an additional $100,000 for reaching the Final Four and $200,00 for the national championship.

The grand total awaiting the coach for winning WVU’s first NCAA basketball championship would be $430,000.

There are also cash awards for finishing first through fourth in the Big 12 regular season with $40,000 coming with the title or $30,000 for second place.

Big 12 Coach of the Year delivers a $30,000 incentive bonus with another $50,000 available if he wins either or both the Associated Press or National Association of Basketball Coaches “Coach of the Year” honor.

In Kellogg’s new deal as he tries to find out what life without JJ Quinerly is like, it pays him $675,000, which is a $75,000 raise over what he would have earned on his old contract. His new contract continues to pay him a base of $500,000.

If Kellogg finishes in the Top 6 in the Big 12 in each of the next two years he will earn a two-year contract extension at $725,000 and $750,000.

This, of course, is another attempt to give importance to retention of coaches over a longer period of time, settling down what has been the most unstable aspect of the WVU athletic department.

In addition, Kellogg will receive a $25,000 retention bonus if he’s head coach on Aug. 1 and a $75,000 retention bonus on May 1 of every contract year. In his previous contract he received a $50,000 retention bonus on Aug. 1, 2024, and May 1, 2025, and was due a $50,000 retention bonus on May 1 of the remaining contract years.

There are also win bonuses, Big 12 placement bonuses, NCAA appearance bonus and championship and Coach of the Year bonuses.

Hammond will make $135,000 this year and receive a $5,000 annual raise so he tops out at $155,000 in the final year of this contract. He also can earn a $25,000 national championship bonus and $5,000 bonuses for conference regular season and post-season conference titles