West Virginia announced Saturday evening that assistant coach Josh Eilert will be elevated to the role of interim head men’s basketball coach for the 2023-24 season.
The Kansas State graduate has spent the last 15 years as an assistant in Morgantown for former head coach Bob Huggins, who resigned last week after being arrested and charged with DUI. Eilert got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at his alma mater in 2006-07 before moving to West Virginia in 2007.
Sources tell FOX Sports that West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker originally planned to find a permanent replacement for Huggins in the search, but complications due to a late June timeline meant that the big-name candidates were not as interested in the job. Those same sources tell FOX Sports that the plan will be to open up the pool of candidates following the 2023-24 season during the typical period in which coaches make the job jump more often.
Eilert and his staff must get to work quickly, as the Mountaineers have three players who have gone in the transfer portal since Huggins’ resignation. Former Arizona star Kerr Kriisa, guard Joe Toussaint and forward Tre Mitchell have all entered the portal, but there is still a possibility that the trio could return to West Virginia with one of the members of the current staff elevated to the head role for the upcoming season.
“I spoke with knowledgeable basketball people around the country over the last week, including coaches, professional basketball executives and others of whom I trust to identify a strong group of candidates to speak with,” Baker said. “Ultimately what I came to recognize, was that conducting this search in late June was difficult for many of our candidates, and also it put our talented student-athletes at a real disadvantage. With that said, we will conduct our national search at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season.”
“Josh Eilert is the right person to lead our men’s basketball program next season,” Baker added. “He has been an important part of our success, and he has displayed great integrity, work ethic and dedication. He has been involved in all facets of our program during his time on the basketball staff, and he has earned this opportunity to coach our team on an interim basis for the 2023-24 season.
“I would like to thank Wren Baker, President Gee, Rob Alsop, Steve Uryasz and the rest of our administration for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to lead our storied Mountaineer basketball program,” Eilert said. “I would also like to thank Coach Huggins for retaining me on his staff at K-State in 2006 and for bringing me to West Virginia in 2007. I’ve learned so much from Coach Huggins, and it was an honor to work for a Hall of Fame coach for the last 17 years.
“I’m excited about this opportunity to lead the wonderful group of guys that we have in our locker room. They have been working extremely hard on the court, in the weight room and in the classroom since they returned to campus on June 5. In the coming days and weeks, I will be solidifying our roster and getting our team ready to head to Italy later this summer.”
In 2021, Eilert was named a member of the Top 50 Notable Division I Support Staff by Silver Waves Media
Eilert played two seasons of basketball at Kansas State from 2002-04 after transferring from Cloud County Community College, where he was a two-year letterman and one-year starter.
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.
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