For the third straight season, West Virginia unveils a new coach unburdened by high expectations.
The Ross Hodge era begins with the Mountaineers picked 11th in the Big 12’s preseason poll. The faithful get their first chance to decide whether that looks accurate when West Virginia hosts Mount St. Mary’s on Tuesday in Morgantown, W.Va.
After Bob Huggins resigned in June 2023 following 16 seasons, interim coach Josh Eilert went 9-23 for the program’s worst winning percentage since 1917-18. Eilert was replaced by Darian DeVries, who won 19 games and challenged for an NCAA Tournament at-large berth before bolting for Indiana.
The latest coaching search resulted in landing the 45-year-old Hodge from North Texas, where he posted a 46-24 record in two seasons. He immediately rebuilt West Virginia’s roster by adding eight transfers.
West Virginia lost leading scorer Javon Small to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzles and Hodge hopes Honor Huff is among the transfers who’ll fill the void. Huff led the nation in 3-pointers made (131) last season at Chattanooga as he averaged 17.4 points and hit 41.6% of his 3-point tries.
Huff is joined by North Dakota transfer Treysen Eaglestaff (18.9 ppg), who lit up Alabama for 40 points last December; St. Bonaventure transfer Chance Moore (13.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg); and South Carolina sixth man Morris Ugusuk (5.9 ppg, 40.7% on 3-pointers).
Hodge got his first unofficial look at the new roster on Oct. 18 when the Mountaineers hit 20 3-pointers while winning a closed-door scrimmage against Maryland. During their 80-54 exhibition win over Div. II Wheeling on Sunday, the Mountaineers changed tactics and scored 44 points in the paint.
“I thought we did a good job of taking advantage of what our advantage was, which was our interior play,” Hodge said. “I think that’s what you will see with this team, where we can create some situations where teams are going to have to pick how they choose to defend us.”
Mount St. Mary’s won 23 games last year and earned the seventh NCAA tournament appearance in school history, but this year’s Mountaineers are picked to finish ninth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Like Hodge, second-year coach Donny Lind is starting with a new roster after losing four starters. The lone returnee is Xavier Lipscomb, who averaged 6.8 points, and he is joined by Western Illinois transfer Trey Deveaux (9.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg).
“Being able to retain a guy like ‘X’ is enormous,” Lind said. “He knows what it takes to win. He knows what the locker room needs to hear in order to do that. The biggest thing for me is I trust his voice in our locker room with our guys.”
