Morgantown - BYU basketball has had many famous players wearing blue and white. One of them may not know, Michael T. Benson, the new president of West Virginia.

Benson visited Reynolds Hall on Wednesday, and one of his favorite parts was watching the basketball court played by climber Great Jerry West and framed on one of the walls.

Benson's main focus is WVU's academics and overall growth, making it an excellent learning experience, but his background is trapped in track and field.

While interested in track and field, Benson will continue to maintain the way he starts when he takes office in July because of how respect he has for athletic director Wren Baker.

"For me, Wren is one of the best athletic directors in the United States," Benson said. "It's obvious that he knows what he's doing. He's from Oklahoma, and of course in North Texas. We've built a very good relationship. I told him I'm going to be involved like he wants."

Benson dabbled in track and field along the coast of Carolina. In 2020, Benson pitched to his athletic director to do the home and family series with his alma mater, BYU. Both teams were undefeated, and one of his friends was then BYU sports director Tom Holmoe.

Benson picked up the phone and called Holmo.

Benson said: "'I said, Tom, we are neither defeated. Let's go home and home.'" Benson said. "He said, 'Well, Big 12 was kind of keeping us tight schedules.' They weren't "Big 12" at the time. Well, it turned out that it was about two weeks, because our schedule was free, so they had to cancel the game.

Benson said he will be fully rooted in West Virginia when he will play his alma mater Oct. 3.

West Virginia's campaign was successful in the fall and winter of 2025. Benson was successful and mentioned the Learfield Directors Cup, which is ranked in the I-level sports competition department. West Virginia ranked 24th in the latest rankings, including winter sports.

“We are OK now,” Benson said. "All the things we're really in weightlifting classes. If you look at the budget, we're in a relatively small market. We're probably the smallest of all 12 big 12 markets. Actually, we have to be.

One of Benson's favorite parts to come to West Virginia is that Morgan Town is a college town. He loves seeing the town on Saturday, students are walking around and wvu logo on everything. For a short time he was here, Benson learned about the importance of track and field in West Virginia in the mood of the town.

“There is no professional team here, and the citizens of the country connect their hopes and dreams in many ways to the performance of WVU,” Benson said. “As far as I understand, Morgan town poured into the largest city in the state on a Saturday afternoon. Everyone comes from all over the place and it creates this environment where alumni are happy to return to campus. They meet friends. They cheer for their team.”

Part of the well-being will be the performance of the football team. At the end of last year, I was in a bad mood, especially with high expectations. Baker made a change and Rich Rodriguez was back.

Benson is familiar with Rodriguez. Last year, Carolina Coastal Carolina played Rodriguez's former team, Jacksonville State, to open. The coronavirus mobilization won 55-27.

Since then, the two have met. Rodriguez recently gave Benson a tour of the football facility.

"We absolutely raced them on a boat," Benson said. "He was so angry at the end of the race. I reminded him... it was cool, he came to the circle. He recognized the challenges he faced when he first left and how grateful he was for him to have a second chance. Sometimes you don't have two chances. I'm happy for him."

Benson hasn't participated in many WVU sports events yet. He participated in the NCAA Championship game at the WVU Women’s Basketball Tournament in March at Chapel Hill (NC).

Obviously, Benson does love track and field. Even if he enjoys his enjoyment, Benson will leave that part of WVU to Baker and help where possible.

“Everything I can do to help support the development of the university, and most importantly, academically,” Benson said. “But also make sure we compete in the 12th and beyond.”