ASU’s Ray Anderson apologizes to WVU for Morgantown comments

Ray Anderson, the Arizona State vice president for university athletics, apologized on Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta Wednesday for his remark about never wanting to travel to Morgantown when his Sun Devils face the West Virginia Mountaineers as members of the Big 12.

“I promise I’m not going to Morgantown,” Anderson said alongside ASU president Michael Crow on Saturday. “I’m going to assign that to (deputy athletic director) Jean Boyd. He can go to Morgantown. But send me to Texas and the rivalry with Arizona and starting a new one with BYU and Utah and Colorado.”

WVU represents the longest logistical road trip for the Sun Devils when they depart the Pac-12 for the Big 12 following the 2023-24 academic year. But Anderson said Wednesday on Bickley & Marotta that his comment was “in jest” and regarding the cold winter weather.

Anderson added that he called West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker to personally apologize.

“Although those comments were said in jest and taken out of context, they were clumsy comments from me that I sincerely regret,” Anderson told Bickley & Marotta. “Because I offended some people when no offense was intended, and for that I apologize. I sincerely do.

“So I called Wren on Monday and we had a chance to talk and I explained the context. He graciously accepted my apology and certainly said he’d pass it on to their president Gordon Gee, who I know.”

Arizona State VP for university athletics Ray Anderson says he called West Virginia AD Wren Baker to apologize for his comments on Morgantown and that he looks forward to visiting. pic.twitter.com/qH2hVWmofz

— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) August 9, 2023

Baker also made Anderson promise he would visit Morgantown “many times over the next few years.”

“It’s a beautiful, beautiful college town,” Anderson said. “I look forward to visiting.”

Baker had responded with a post on X a day after Anderson’s comment on the home of WVU.

There are two kinds of people in the world. People who love West Virginia and people who haven’t been here. #HailWV pic.twitter.com/PesUXEEhtt

— Wren Baker (@wrenbaker) August 6, 2023

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