Meet the WVU Basketball Staff: Tom Ostrom Comes from Long Line of Basketball Royalty

WVU Basketball assistant coach Tom Ostrom brings more than 25 years of coaching experience, and has coached under basketball legends his entire career.

A graduate of Minnesota University, Ostrom started off his career as a graduate assistant. He first started under Hall of Famer Clem Haskins. Shortly after in 1998, Ostrom went to the University of Florida. Coaching under the legendary Billy Donovan, and a runner-up for the 2000 national championship.

Coach Ostrom at a WVU Basketball practice.

One of the more interesting stories surrounding Ostrom, is the coaching turnaround he was apart of at South Alabama.  Ostrom joined John Pelphrey for the 2005-2006 season.  Prior to Pelphrey and Ostrom, USA had not been to the NCAA Tournament for seven years, and in the 2004-2005 season, only won 10 games.

Ostrom helped assist Pelphrey to an astonishing rebuild, leading them to a 24-7 record, a Sun Belt title, and a March Madness appearance. Ostrom then followed Pelphrey to Arkansas for four years.  The 2008 recruiting cycle saw Ostrom bring in the 7th ranked class in the country, and making one tournament appearance in his tenure there.

Following his time at Arkansas, Ostrom went to the Dayton Flyers. He helped Archie Miller for six seasons as an assistant coach. Four of those years, the Flyers made it to the NCAA tournament, with an Elite 8 appearance in 2014.

Ostrom followed Miller to Indiana University, from 2017-2021.  At IU, he was elevated to Associate Head Coach. Ostrom’s recruiting skills were shown in full force in his time in Bloomington. Ostrom helped recruit five stars Romeo Langford and Khristian Lander to the Hoosiers, as well as Trayce Jackson-Davis. Ostrom’s recruiting classes were rated as the 7th best in 2018, and the 13th best in 2020.

WVU head coach Darian DeVries hired Ostrom to the Drake staff.  Ostrom was also apart of the teams who won two MVC titles, with two March Madness appearances.

“He’s a high-level coach and recruiter who brings a great deal of experience with him. Tom was with us the last two years at Drake and is very familiar with our system and program” DeVries said.

When DeVries was hired at WVU, Ostrom became a highly sought after assistant coach. Mark Byington, who Vanderbilt hired, had brought on Ostrom to his staff. Then, in April of 2024, DeVries was able to brin Ostrom with him to Morgantown.

“There’s a level of trust” Ostrom said of DeVries “I trust him impeccably with my professional career and personal life… I think we play off each other very well”.

Ostrom also mentioned the history of WVU basketball as a reason he came to Morgantown.

“The great traditions and values of West Virginia University stands for is the reason I wanted to come here.”

For a related story, meet WVU basketball staff member Nick Norton.