Report: West Virginia Set to Hire Ross Hodge as Next Head Basketball Coach
West Virginia basketball has been through more in the last month than any other program in the country, but it appears there is hope on the horizon.
Shortly after, reports surfaced that the Mountaineers had found a “serious candidate” to replace Darian DeVries—who left for Indiana last week shortly after WVU was snubbed from the NCAA Tournament—it appears that Athletic Director Wren Baker is going back to his roots to land a basketball coach.
According to a report from Matt Norlander, West Virginia will hire North Texas head coach Ross Hodge to serve as the program’s next leader.
“West Virginia is hiring North Texas coach Ross Hodge on a five-year contract, sources tell CBS Sports,” Norlander wrote on X. “The deal will be officially announced soon. Hodge’s UNT team is still playing in the NIT. Hodge has ties to WVU AD Wren Baker, who was at UNT before getting to WVU.”
Now, the reactions to this report are mixed, as some feel he would be an excellent addition for the program. Meanwhile, there are those who seem to doubt his ability to pick up the pieces and make WVU a contender right away.
There’s not much basis for those worries, though.
After all, the last successful coach to come out of UNT was Grant McCasland, and he’s got Texas Tech in the Sweet 16.
Hodge has the Mean Green in the semifinals of the NIT Tournament with a 27-8 (14-4 AAC) record for the 2024-25 season. He’s been terrific overall in two seasons, going 46-23 overall in his time there.
Additionally, he was a major part of the staff when McCasland was in Denton, serving as the associate head coach for the Mean Green before succeeding him.
