Latest news with #MichaelT.Benson
Dominion Post
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Even with athletics background, Michael T. Benson to leave WVU sports to Wren Baker
MORGANTOWN — BYU basketball has had numerous well-known players who wore the blue and white. One of them, who people might not have known, is West Virginia's new president Michael T. Benson. Benson took a tour of Reynolds Hall on Wednesday, and one of his favorite parts, other than seeing the modern learning facility, was looking at the basketball court floor that Mountaineer great Jerry West played on, framed on one of the walls. Benson's main focus is on academics and overall growth in WVU, making it an excellent learning experience, but his background is entangled in athletics. While having an interest in athletics, Benson's going to keep a hands-off approach when he takes office in July because of how much he respects athletic director Wren Baker. 'Wren, to me, is one of the finest athletic directors in America,' Benson said. 'It's clear he knows what he's doing. He's coming from stints at Oklahoma and, of course, at North Texas. We've developed a really good relationship. I've told him I'll be as involved as he wants me to be.' Benson dabbled in athletics when he was at Coastal Carolina. In 2020, Benson pitched to his athletic director to do a home-and-home series with his alma mater, BYU. Both teams were undefeated, and one of his friends was the then-BYU athletic director, Tom Holmoe. Benson picked up the phone and made the call to Holmoe. ''I said, Tom, we're both undefeated. Let's do a home and home,'' Benson said. 'He said, 'Well, the Big 12 is kind of keeping us on a tight schedule.' They weren't in the Big 12 at the time. They were playing independent. 'Let's talk about it later.' Well, it turns out later was about two weeks because on our schedule was Liberty, and they had a COVID case, so they had to cancel the game. BYU needed a game… We signed the deal. It was a nationally televised game. If you remember, Coastal beat BYU and ruined their undefeated season.' Benson said he will be fully rooting for West Virginia when it plays his alma mater Oct. 3. West Virginia's athletic success was solid in 2025 for the fall and winter. Benson brought up the success and mentioned the Learfield Directors Cup, which is the rankings of athletics departments in Division I sports. In the most recent rankings that included the winter sports, West Virginia was ranked 24th. 'We're doing okay right now,' Benson said. 'All that to say, we are really punching above our weight class. If you look at budgets, we're in a relatively small market. We may be the smallest market in all of the Big 12. In fact, we've got to be. I'm trying to think, Stillwater, Waco, Provo, everybody's bigger than we are. And yet, look at what we get out of what we invest.' One of Benson's favorite parts of coming to West Virginia is that Morgantown is a college town. He likes to see the town filled on Saturdays, students walking around and WVU logos on everything. In the short time he's been here, Benson's understood how important West Virginia's athletics play in the mood of the town. 'With no professional teams here, the citizens of the state, in so many ways, tie their kind of hopes and dreams to how well WVU does,' Benson said. 'As I understand, Morgantown swells into the biggest city in the state on a Saturday afternoon. Everybody comes in from all over, and it creates this environment where alumni are so excited to be back on campus. They see their friends. They cheer for their team.' Part of the well-being will be how well the football team does. Towards the end of last year, the mood was somber, especially with the high expectations. Baker made a change, and Rich Rodriguez is back. Benson's familiar with Rodriguez. Coastal Carolina played Rodriguez's former team, Jacksonville State, last year to open the season. The Chanticleers won 55-27. The two have met since. Rodriguez recently gave Benson a tour of the football facilities. 'We absolutely boat raced them in their place,' Benson said. 'He was so mad at the end of the game. I remind him of that… It's cool that he's come full circle. He recognizes the challenges from when he left the first time, and how grateful he is to have this second opportunity. Sometimes you don't get two chances. I'm happy for him.' Benson hasn't been to too many WVU sporting events, yet. He attended the WVU women's basketball's NCAA tournament games in Chapel Hill (N.C.) in March. It's clear Benson does enjoy athletics. Even with his enjoyment, Benson will leave that part of WVU to Baker and just help when he can. 'Whatever I can do to help support, yes, the kind of advancement of the university, most importantly, on the academic side,' Benson said. 'But also ensure that we compete in the Big 12 and beyond.'
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Once a Chanticleer, always a Chanticleer': Benson reflects on Coastal Carolina presidency
CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) — Coastal Carolina University President Dr. Michael T. Benson is entering his final days in the position before making the move to West Virginia University to be the Mountaineers' new president. Benson announced in February he'd be leaving Teal Nation. He sat down with News13 to discuss his nearly five-year journey in Conway and what it meant to be a Chanticleer. Going into his last commencement ceremony at CCU next week, Benson said graduation is one of, if not his favorite, time of the year. 'I love seeing our students succeed. That's my favorite part of it,' he said. 'I mean, we're all here because of students. In just a few days, I'll be able to shake every hand of every student that walks across that stage. And those will be the highlights. Seeing those students accomplish a really singular thing in their life, that they can now go out into the world and say they're a Coastal graduate. That, to me, is the most memorable.' Over the years, Benson has had many milestone accomplishments, including securing $40 million for library renovations and bringing in a record freshman class each year since 2021, and many more. Benson said none of it would've been possible without every faculty and staff member. With him being president of several different universities for roughly 24 years, he said his relationships at CCU were special. 'Everywhere I've gone, I've tried to emphasize that I may have a nice office and I may have a title, but I'm no more important than the person that helps keep our campus beautiful, or the engineer in the boiler room or the junior faculty member or anybody else,' Benson said. 'I would like to say thank you to the board that gave me this chance back in 2020 when I was hired. I told a group of students the other night, I want you to call or text or email somebody who's taken a chance on you and thank them.' CCU faculty and staff say they're going to miss Benson's vibrant personality and the kind person he was to all. Dean's on campus said he was a president who fully immersed himself with the student body and community and made the university a better place, adding that the next president has big shoes to fill. 'Under his leadership, we developed our new strategic plan 'CCU Reach,' and that is just been, I think, the legacy that he'll leave is this new strategic plan that we've begun implementing. We could not have done that without him and his leadership and his insight,' College of Education and Social Sciences dean Jamia Richmond said. 'He'll do great wherever he goes because he's really intuitive, and he pays attention to the environment where he's going. His personality, the way he connects with individuals, you know, he helps students, faculty, feel seen and heard.' Students on campus who knew Benson closely said that since their freshman year he was a president to look up to since the very beginning. They said that he would always be out at every event and interacting with the students. 'I just think that Coastal is going to miss President Benson, but we're all really proud of him,' CCU Student Body President Gabrielle Ryder said. 'Accomplishments and the growth that has happened through Coastal under President Benson's leadership, I think that it creates a lot of hope for the future of what Coastal is going to become in the next 5 to 10 years.' Ryder said it's full circle to be in a way graduating together from Coastal alongside Benson and is excited for him to be chasing his dream job at WVU. But at the end of the day, Benson says: 'Once a Chanticleer, always a Chanticleer.' * * * Gabby Jonas joined the News13 team as a multimedia journalist in April 2024. She is from Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Kent State University in May 2023. Follow Gabby on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, and read more of her work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Michael T. Benson, of Coastal Carolina University, will be WVU's next president
Feb. 24—MORGANTOWN — WVU announced on Monday morning that Michael T. Benson, currently president of Coastal Carolina University, will be WVU's next president, its 27th. His employment term will start July 15 and will run through June 30, 2030, according to his contract, which was provided to The Dominion Post. His base salary will be $850, 000 per year ; current President Gordon Gee's salary is $800, 000. Benson's name had been circulated on social media on Friday, following an initial post by MetroNews' Hoppy Kercheval. The Board of Governors announced the selection of a new president late Thursday but was withholding the name until the contract was signed. In Monday's announcement, WVU said Benson brings three decades of academic and administrative experience in higher education to his next role. "I am honored to be named president of West Virginia University—one of our nation's oldest land-grant institutions, " Benson said. "My 30-year career in public higher education has prepared me for this singular opportunity, and I wish to thank the Board of Governors for the trust they have placed in me and hope to earn that same level of trust and support from the entire WVU community." WVU will be Benson's fifth presidency. Before arriving at Coastal Carolina in 2021, he served as president of Snow College, Southern Utah University and Eastern Kentucky University. During his tenure at Coastal Carolina, WVU said, Benson secured a $10 million gift, the largest in the school's history, and he worked closely with community partners and policymakers to advance initiatives that benefited CCU. "I'm looking forward to bringing that same approach to West Virginia as I meet with people from across the WVU System, and from city hall to the State Capitol, along with West Virginians from communities across the state and our incredible network of alumni around the world, " Benson said. WVU BOG Chair Rick Pill said Benson's success in accelerating student enrollment and fundraising to record levels at CCU and his commitment to building strong partnerships is among the factors that led to his selection as the next president at WVU. "As we look to advance our university and adapt to the fast-evolving world of higher education, the role of our university president is more critical now than ever, " Pill said. "On the heels of securing record-high retention numbers, maintaining a strong financial footing, developing positive student success programming and raising unprecedented dollars through the WVU Foundation, West Virginia University remains the formidable, flagship, land-grant institution that we all know and love. We look forward to Dr. Benson's leadership in continuing to guide us on this upward trajectory." After Gee announced his planned retirement — his term ends at the end of June — WVU began its presidential search in May 2024. "We are beyond thrilled to welcome Dr. Michael T. Benson to the Mountaineer family, " said Patrice Harris, WVU BOG vice-chair and chair of the Presidential Search Committee. "As our presidential search officially closes and we turn the page to begin a new West Virginia University chapter, we express our sincere appreciation and gratitude for all those who participated. The WVU community's collective feedback helped us find a leader who exemplifies the right values and qualifications to serve at the helm of West Virginia's flagship university. We can all be proud of the search process." Benson earned his doctoral degree in modern history from the University of Oxford, St. Antony's College. He also holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Brigham Young University, a master's degree in nonprofit administration from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master of Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University. Benson has also held faculty appointments at the University of Utah, the University of Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins University, and has taught at each institution where he served as president, including Coastal Carolina where he is a professor of history. Born in Utah, Benson was raised in Texas and Indiana, and worked and studied abroad for more than six years in Italy, England and Israel. He played basketball at both BYU and Oxford. He is the author of several books, including "Daniel Coit Gilman and the Birth of the American Research University, " published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 2022. Forbes Magazine named it among the best higher education books in 2023. Benson also authored "College for the Common Wealth, " for which Gee wrote the forward. "I believe in leading by example, " Benson said. "I'm enthusiastic about getting started and ready to collaborate with the faculty and staff as we create the best possible teaching, learning and living environment for every Mountaineer student." Benson and his wife, Debi, are the parents of three children—Truman, Tatum and Talmage. He has two older children from a previous marriage, Emma and Samuel. An avid traveler, he has visited all 50 states and five of the seven continents.
