Top Names to Watch in WVU Basketball Coaching Search

With Darian DeVries being hired away to Indiana, WVU basketball finds itself in its second national coaching search in the last 12 months.

After just one season in Morgantown, DeVries’s departure means the Mountaineers will have its fourth coach in the last four years. Bob Huggins coached the 2022-23 season, Josh Eilert coached the 2023-24 season under the interim tag, DeVries coached this 2024-25 season and whoever is hired will coach the 2025-26 season next year.

Immediately, there are some candidates with preexisting connections to WVU and athletic director Wren Baker who become early candidates to watch in this coaching search.

Ben McCollum – Hired by Iowa

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.

Will Wade – Hired by North Carolina State

Wade has been a popular name on coaching hot boards the last two cycles after he flamed out at LSU following the 2021-22 season. He was let go from a successful five-year tenure with LSU over allegations of recruiting infractions that landed him a 10-game suspension. Since then, Wade has gone 49-8 at McNeese, with two conference championships and back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Wade is reportedly the top candidate for the coaching vacancy at NC State but has already been brought up by some for the WVU job.

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.

Niko Medved

Medved was in some rumors regarding WVU’s vacancy last offseason as well and he’ll be another hot name in this coaching cycle. He’s had a great seven-year tenure at Colorado State, with five 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances over the last four seasons.

He has the Rams back in the Big Dance this season with a 25-9 record as Mountain West Conference Champions.

Tom Crean

Crean has been another popular name in coaching searches in the last couple of years. Crean has spent the last two seasons working in television after being fired from Georgia following the 2021-22 season but has said he’s ready for a return to the sidelines.

Crean had successful stays at Marquette and Indiana before a disappointing four-year tenure with the Bulldogs that saw him go 47-75.

Longshots

These are coaching candidates that would be way down the board for WVU basketball but should at least be mentioned for their connection to West Virginia.

Chester Frazier

Frazier was DeVries’s associate head coach this year at WVU. Frazier has no head coaching experience but would be the only candidate who could potentially carry on the momentum from this year, keeping the current roster and recruiting class together. Frazier’s been an assistant coach at WVU, Kansas State, Virginia Tech and Illinois, where he was part of the Illinis’ Elite Eight ruun last season.

Josh Eilert

Eilert has more connections to WVU than most, spending 17 years with the Mountaineers and serving as interim head coach in 2023-24, Eilert’s interim season did not go well, with the team failing to reach 10 wins. Eilert was hired as an assistant at Utah this season and served as the Utes’ interim head coach over the final few weeks. He will be on the move again this year after Utah hired someone else as the permanent head coach.

Darris Nichols

The former WVU point guard just accepted a new job at La Salle following four years at Radford. Nichols has obviously never coached at the Big 12 level before, but he had a winning record at Radford and moved up to what appears to be a better job at La Salle this offseason. He’s likely not a serious candidate for WVU but has obvious connections to the university.

WV Sports Now will add and eliminate names to this during the search.