By: Braxton Fuller
With Darian DeVries leaving West Virginia to be the new coach at Indiana, Athletic Director Wren Baker will be on the hunt for a new WVU Men’s basketball coach. Here is an initial list of candidates who should be on Baker’s list.
- Jerrod Calhoun – has done great in his first season with Utah State, posting a record of 26-6 and leading the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament. Calhoun has connections to WVU. He spent five seasons as an assistant on Bob Huggins’ staff at WVU before becoming an head coach. His first job was at Fairmont State. There, he went 124-38 over five seasons and was the National Division II Runner-Up in 2017. From there, he moved on to Youngstown State where he recorded an 118-106 record from 2018-2024 when he left for Utah State. Calhoun has an 8-5 career post season record and a 64% winning percentage in his career.
- Alan Huss – personally, this is my favorite candidate, as I’ve followed High Point University closely over the last two seasons. He’s very respected nationally as a recruiter. He has a career winning percentage of 80%. His record at High Point is 56-14 over two seasons. Before landing the job at High Point, he was an assistant on Greg McDermott’s staff at Creighton.
- Ben McCollum – why not go back to Drake to find DeVries’s replacement? McCollum has an 83% winning percentage on his career (mostly from the D2 level). He won 30+ games in his first season with Drake. He did it with a lot of D2 players he brought with him from Northwest Missouri State, where he won four national championships in 15 seasons. This is a no brainer here. He must be called.
- Ryan Odom – he’s had much success everywhere he’s been. He has a 52-20 record in his two years at VCU and has them playing in the NCAA Tournament this season. Odom also spent time at UMBC and Utah State and has now led three different programs to the NCAA tournament, including the first-ever win as a 16 seed vs a 1 seed. That occurred when UMBC knocked off UVA in 2018.
- Will Wade – I think this one is less likely, due to the recruiting allegations stemming from his time at LSU. But, if it were to happen, it’d most definitely be a home-run hire (assuming no allegations follow him). An ace recruiter that can win ball games too. Wade has a career head coaching record of 253-106 (71%). He has spent the past two seasons at McNeese, where he is 57-10 with conference championships in both seasons. Before the controversy caused his ouster at LSU, Wade went 106-51 over five seasons leading the Tigers. He also spent two years at Chattanooga and two at VCU prior to landing the LSU job in 2017.
Honorable mention: Chester Frazier – currently the Associate Head Coach under Darian DeVries at West Virginia. He’s known across college hoops as one of, if not the top assistant in the game. WVU would likely retain a few key players from this year’s roster if Frazier were awarded the role. It may also help keep most of the 2025 recruiting class in tact. Frazier has also spent time as an assistant at Illinois (2021-2024), Virginia Tech (2019-2021), and Kansas State (2012-2019). It would be a big gamble, though, to hire Frazier for the head role, seeing as he has no head coaching experience.
