West Virginia Mountaineers basketball was coming off another NCAA Tournament berth. The Mountaineers were aggressive in the transfer portal, bringing in a star-studded cast featuring RaeQuan Battle, Kerr Kriisa and Jesse Edwards among others to fill out the roster. Head coach Bob Huggins was entering a season with a talented team, sights set on making another NCAA Tournament run. But that’s when disaster hit.
Huggins was fired after multiple offenses — one a Cincinnati radio hit in which he used a homophobic slurs and the other being another DUI. After the DUI, the school had no choice but to let go of Huggins and move on. There was a bit of drama following all that but never really amounted to anything.
So WVU was forced to go on into the 2023-24 basketball season with Josh Eilert as the head coach. Eilert, a Huggins disciple, was thrust into an impossible situation. He came in with very little coaching experience; Eilert was promoted to assistant coach in 2022. Eilert had spent time as a video coordinator after serving as a graduate assistant with Kansas State. He followed Huggins to WVU and became Director of Basketball Operations. It always seemed like Eilert was doomed to fail but the roster he adopted was supposed to compete in the Big 12. That was until the suspensions.
Battle and Kriisa took a while to get on the court because of suspension and the NCAA’s eligibility rules. Edwards would go down with a wrist injury at the worst time. WVU struggled through the non-conference schedule and by the time it got to the gauntlet that is the Big 12, it was too late to develop consistency or chemistry. That’s not on Eilert really but having an established coach with experience would have gone a long way.
The Mountaineers would go on to have their worst finish (9-23) since 2001-02, a team coached by Gale Catlett (prior to the hiring of John Beilein). The season would end on a loss via 16-point blown lead vs. Cincy. Wins over Texas and Kansas would be overshadowed by losses to pretty much every other team in the Big 12. And now the Mountaineers will begin the search for their next head coach.
So who might that be?
WVU head coach candidates
Dusty May, Florida Atlantic
May is going to be at the top of pretty much every team with a vacancies list. He took a 9th-seeded Owls team to the Final Four last season and is putting together another solid campaign in 2023-24. What’s great about what May has done and how he’d fit in Morgantown is the continuity. Florida Atlantic became more of a destination for transfers after last season. FAU kept most of its players from the Final Four run for this season. WVU had always done a good job recruiting lesser names and eventually turning them into solid players at the college level. While NIL and the transfer portal will be big for West Virginia, getting back to recruiting and developing is the best way to find success again. May could provide that and get the Mountaineers back to tournament relevancy. Overall at FAU, May sports a 125-67 record.
Mick Cronin, UCLA
Cronin is another Huggins disciple similar to Eilert. The former Cincinnati head coach took over for Huggins once he left for K-State back in 2006. Cronin would take the Bearcats to nine straight NCAA Tournament appearances before bolting for UCLA. After advancing to the Final Four and twice the Sweet 16, Cronin and the Bruins have had a miserable season in 2023-24. UCLA is 15-16 going into the Pac-12 tournament and will miss the NCAA Tournament pending a miracle run. If UCLA runs Cronin out of town, WVU could jump in and view Cronin’s demeanor and system as a continuation of Huggins. Say what you want about the man but he has an overall coaching record of 478-223 (.682%) with three Sweet 16 trips and a Final Four (very similar to Huggins).
Niko Medved, Colorado State
As of this writing, it appears the Rams and Medved are on their way to the NCAA Tournament. The former Furman and Drake head coach has carved out a nice spot with Colorado State, which is 19-6 this season going into the Mountain West Tournament. It appears regardless of outcome, the Rams will be dancing. That would be the second time in the past four seasons Medved has led Colorado State to the tournament. With a win over San Jose State, Medved can secure a 20-win season for the fourth time in the past five seasons. WVU has the money to pry Medved from Fort Collins and possibly keep him away from his hometown in Minnesota. He’d also get to coach in the best conference in basketball for a program with a sizable NIL budget.
Mark Byington, James Madison
If you’re not deep into college hoops, go check on the season Byington and the Dukes are having right now. All they did was win 31 games en route to running the table in the Sun Belt Tournament with a 91-71 win over Arkansas State on Tuesday to clinch an auto bid into the NCAA Tournament. Say what you want about the Sun Belt and mid-majors but winning 30+ games in any college basketball season is very impressive. Byington is 218-136 overall in his coaching career, over .600%, which feels like a good benchmark for mid-major coaches. This could take time for Byington to build the program back up but it’s a move that could pay off big for West Virginia.
Amir Abdur-Rahim, South Florida
This is mostly because two USF alum are on the DraftKings Network staff and it would please me to see WVU poach their coach. But in all seriousness, Abdur-Rahim has led a magical season for the Bulls, who are well-positioned to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. It would also be just the fourth time the school has made the NCAAs. All this in just his first season as head coach. You may recognize his name because he’s the brother of former NBA player Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who carved out a nice career with the Grizzlies among other team. Amir came over to USF from Kennesaw State, where he led the Owls to a 26-9 record and a NCAA Tournament bid. He’s only really had two successful seasons as a head coach, so WVU may be scared off by the lack of experience. But the results are there so far and Abdur-Rahim could springboard himself to a Big 12 gig.
