Sources: WVU Basketball Has Narrowed Down Coaching Search to Particular Order

As the college basketball coaching carousel continues to take shape, it appears WVU has already narrowed down their search to two main candidates. These are two of the top names on the market, but also two very different choices.

From our current reporting based on what WV Sports Now has heard from sources, Ben McCollum and Jerrod Calhoun are WVU’s top choices. It’s also believed West Virginia director of athletics Wren Baker has them ranked as McCollum as his No. 1 choice and Calhoun as his fallback plan.

McCollum would represent hiring the top available coach left, and ironically, stealing away Drake’s coach for the second consecutive year.

In contrast, Calhoun would represent bringing in a coach with clear ties to the state and school. It would also signal reestablishing a connection with Bob Huggins in a way. While Huggins is not a candidate to return to his old position at the helm of the Mountaineers, hiring one of his former assistants would mean Baker is not turned off by the idea of a head coach with a clear connection to Huggins, who was forced to end his career unceremoniously after multiple scandals in the spring of 2023.

By all accounts and from what I've always heard, it definitely appears WVU has two main candidates in this order: Ben McCollum and then Jerrod Calhoun.

McCollum would be another Drake coach (kinda a weird coincidence) and one of the top names on the market. Calhoun would be a…

— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) March 22, 2025

Ben McCollum

McCollum has only been a Division-I coach for one season, but he would shoot to the top of the watchlist for WVU basketball for two reasons. First, he was highly successful in his first year at this level, leading Drake to the NCAA Tournament with a 30-3 record.

Second, his familiarity with Baker. McCollum spent 15 seasons as the head coach of Division-II Northwest Missouri State, where he overlapped with Baker for four years from 2010-13. Baker did not hire McCollum to NWMS — McCollum started there in 2009 — but the two did overlap. Baker has already hired a coach at WVU with ties to his old job as current WVU women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg was hired by Baker at NWMS in 2012.

Jerrod Calhoun

Calhoun is a familiar name for WVU fans, having been an assistant coach under Bob Huggins from 2007-12. Following his time in Morgantown, Calhoun had a successful five-year stay at Division-II Fairmont State before moving up to Youngstown State in 2017.

Following a rocky first year with the Penguins, Calhoun helped turn that program around, culminating in back-to-back 20-win seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24. He was hired by Utah State this offseason and has led the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament with a 26-7 record.

McCollum and Calhoun were on WV Sports Now’s initial coaching candidate hot board.