West Virginia basketball has been in a state limbo since the bizarre resignation saga involving former longtime head coach Bob Huggins, but the Mountaineers are now going ahead with a comprehensive search for a new coach for the program.
WVU athletic director Wren Baker announced today the school is launching a national coaching search now that the men's basketball team's season is officially over.
“We are now focused on our collective future, and I am excited about what comes next,” Baker said in a press release. “We compete in the best men's basketball conference in America, we have incredible fans and supporters, we have a history of success and we have a commitment to winning. I am confident we will engage a strong pool of candidates and identify the right leader for our program. As I shared with our student-athletes, we will move deliberately but as swiftly as we can in the days ahead.”
In June 2023, a day after he was arrested and charged with driving under the influence Huggins resigned from his position as West Virgnia head coach, which he had held since 2007. Additionally, the then-69-year-old announced his retirement from coaching. In a shocking development, however, Huggins claimed two weeks later that he had never resigned and actually wanted to return as West Virginia's coach.
Huggins, who was arrested for a DUI in 2004 while the head coach of Cincinnati, did not return to WVU; the Mountaineers instead went the entire 2023-2024 season with Josh Eilert as interim head coach. Eilert couldn't manage to cobble together a successful season, as West Virginia finished 9-23, its worst record in more than 20 years, and lost 10 of its final 11 games.
In the press release, Baker commended Eilert and his staff for their “class and professionalism.”
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