What, and who, is next for West Virginia after Bob

Jeff Borzello, ESPN Personnel WriterJun 18, 2023, 01:45 PM ET

Close

• Basketball recruiting insider.
• Signed up with ESPN in 2014.
• Graduate of University of Delaware.After a six-week stretch

that saw his status tossed into jeopardy on 2 occasions, the Bob Huggins era at West Virginia formally ended Saturday night when he released a declaration saying he intended to resign and retire as the head coach of the Mountaineers.Huggins ends his profession in Morgantown with a complicated legacy.

He played 2 seasons of college ball for West Virginia, then invested one season as a graduate assistant before returning 29 years later as the head coach of his alma mater. Huggins proceeded to guide the Mountaineers to the NCAA tournament 11 times in 16 seasons, going to the Sugary food 16 on five events– including a Final 4 run in 2010. However it ended with 2 debates in less than two months.

Six weeks back, Huggins was suspended for three games and got a$1 million salary decrease after utilizing an anti-gay slur in an interview on a Cincinnati radio station. And then, on Friday night, Huggins was jailed in Pittsburgh on a charge of driving under the influence. According to an authorities report, a breath test identified that Huggins’blood alcohol content was 0.21%. How Huggins– who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022 and who led Cincinnati to 11 straight NCAA tournaments prior to resigning– is remembered will stay up for dispute. But now West Virginia has to quickly move on at an unfavorable time in the college basketball calendar.Here are the greatest concerns in the wake of Huggins’ resignation.Why did West Virginia and Huggins decide to move on now?Editor’s Picks 2 Related When Huggins was suspended for utilizing an anti-gay slur on the radio, the university modified his contract to make it much easier to proceed from him without owing a significant

amount of cash

. Essentially

, his contract became a year-to-year deal, which is exceptionally unusual at the highest levels of college basketball. Shortly after news of Huggins’arrest early Saturday early morning broke, it ended up being clear it would be hard for West Virginia to bring him back as its head coach.Had the occurrence 6 weeks ago never ever happened, perhaps things would have been different. However a DUI less than two months after being suspended for a separate controversy left just one path forward.What will occur to West Virginia’s roster?Speculation had actually grown rampant over the past number of seasons that Huggins was nearing retirement. In reality, there was an understanding in the industry that the 2023-24 project may be his last season as a head coach. As an outcome, West Virginia went all-in this spring in the transfer website, bringing in 3 effect players– Syracuse’s Jesse Edwards, Arizona’s Kerr Kriisa and Montana State’s RaeQuan Battle– to go with two Manhattan transfers who remained last season. Starter Tre Mitchell and sixth man Joe Toussaint were also returning, providing the Mountaineers a borderline preseason top-25 team.That lineup is now completely up in the air. NCAA rules supply student-athletes a 30-day extension to go into the transfer portal after a training change. So even though the transfer window has closed for undergraduates, several players on the lineup can still leave. The two most significant names will likely be Edwards and Kriisa, neither of whom needs a waiver as a novice transfer and both of whom might start at nearly any program in the country.How good is the West Virginia job?The perception has only enhanced over the past few months, primarily thanks to West Virginia’s NIL infrastructure. The Country Roads Trust has deep pockets, and the Mountaineers ‘elite inbound transfer class is evidence of how reliable it can be in the recruiting process. The program likewise has among the very best fan bases in the sport, is the most significant draw in the state and has had consistent success under several coaches. It’s likewise in a league that has prioritized basketball and seems to be on strong footing moving forward.Morgantown is a distinct area within the Huge 12: West Virginia hasn’t generally recruited within the league’s footprint, and its recruiting base permits it to effectively keep an eye on a number of areas. The program can hire New Jersey and Philadelphia, can pull from Maryland and Washington, D.C., and can obviously go into Ohio and the Midwest and get players too.What coach might the Mountaineers rely on next?All signs are West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker desires a permanent replacement, not simply an interim for the upcoming season.The most significant concern is whether he can pursue coaches from Huggins ‘training tree– namely UAB’s Andy Kennedy and Youngstown State’s Jerrod Calhoun. Kennedy spent 4 seasons under Huggins at Cincinnati and after that was the interim coach for the Bearcats after Huggins’ resignation in 2005. Calhoun meanwhile has burst onto the national radar after leading Youngstown State to a Horizon League regular-season title this past season. He was a student assistant under Huggins at Cincinnati and then was on his staff at West Virginia for 5 seasons. South Carolina State head coach Erik Martin

, who spent 15 seasons as an assistant at West Virginia, also falls under this category.Outside of the Huggins tree, it might be worth trying Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes or Mississippi State’s Chris Jans, two coaches very briefly connected to other tasks in the spring.What would currently have actually been a challenging pursuit is made harder by the timing, though.More realistically, Baker could take a look at Charleston’s Pat Kelsey, Ohio’s Jeff Boals, Kent State’s Rob Senderoff, Akron’s John Groce, Toledo’s Tod Kowalczyk, Furman’s Bob Richey, Liberty’s Ritchie McKay, UNC Asheville’s Mike Morrell and UNC Wilmington’s Takayo Siddle. Northwest Missouri State’s Ben McCollum, the most successful Department II coach, will likewise be linked to the task; Baker was his athletic director 2010-13. In regards to coaches currently out of a task, Chris Mack might make good sense, given his past success. LaVall Jordan has plenty of high-major experience. And after that there’s John Beilein, who invested five seasons at West Virginia and led the Mountaineers to 2 Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight prior to leaving in 2007

for Michigan. Would Baker bring him back? It appears unlikely, however it deserves mentioning.