The WVU men’s basketball program needs stability more than anything at the moment. Ross Hodge will be the program’s fourth head coach in four years, when you lump in Josh Eilert’s interim stint in 2023-24.
Things appeared to be headed in the right direction under Darian DeVries despite being snubbed from the NCAA Tournament. They (finally) took down Gonzaga, who was ranked third at the time, picked up their first-ever road win at Kansas, and beat No. 2 Iowa State. And then, as you all know, all that momentum came to a screeching halt when DeVries bolted for Indiana.
No matter who replaced DeVries at WVU, that coach was going to face a number of questions about his commitment to the university after the stunning one-and-done by his predecessor. It’s a question that Hodge answered in his introductory press conference and on a few other occasions, but he really went into great detail when asked again by Hoppy Kercheval during an appearance on 3 Guys Before the Game.
“What do they say? The best predictor of the future behavior is past behavior? We were in Denton for eight years, loved that place. Had a lot of opportunities to leave there for what people would consider bigger and better, but that isn’t necessarily what’s the most important thing to my family. Just me, I’m kind of a comfort zone person, so I’m not somebody that wants to change a lot and move a lot and move a family a lot. That’s just not what I like to do. With that being said, it’s not something I want to do. What someone else may think – oh, that’s a no-brainer, you have to do that – like, I don’t necessarily view it that way.
“I believe in the alignment here,” Hodge continued. “It started with President Gee, and now it’s President Benson to Wren, so you have to be aligned with what everyone’s vision is for a program. Coaches win games, but I really do believe administrations win championships. If you ever felt you didn’t have that alignment, maybe things would change. But for now, it certainly feels all of that’s in alignment. We have some of the best people you can be around. A loyal fanbase that wants to win, that wants to be in Sweet Sixteens, Final Fours, and you have one of the best homecourt advantages in the entire country. I’m not knocking anybody that does that (moving around), casting stones, I’m just saying, for me personally, I don’t want to move a lot. That’s just not what I like to do, and I feel like you don’t have to do that. We can do the things we want to do professionally. We can win at the level we want to win at. We know it’s not going to be easy, but I do feel like we have what we need to give yourself a chance.”
Wren Baker faced some criticism at the time of the hire, mainly because Hodge had only been a head coach at the Division I level for two years and had failed to reach the NCAA Tournament. But Baker knows the kind of coach he’s getting after working at North Texas and believes with bigger and better resources, he’ll succeed.
I don’t want to say DeVries’ decision to leave after one year completely impacted Baker’s decision, but it had to play a factor into the search process. He had to make sure whoever he was hiring would be someone that he could trust, who wants to be here for the long haul, and fully entrench themselves into the university and the state. Hodge was the guy who ended up checking all of the boxes.
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