Ross Hodge ‘Not Interested’ in Bigger Brands or More Money, Voices Commitment to WVU
One of the biggest fears West Virginia fans have is that the basketball program could be turned into a stepping-stone opportunity for head coaches. Darian DeVries had a great first year on the job and looked to be the next great coach in the program’s history. Instead, he used it as leverage to catapult him to a job that could pay more money and offer more resources.
West Virginia basketball has a lot of history and tradition and, in a lot of ways, has accomplished more than Indiana this century. This should not be a stepping-stone job and WVU athletic director Wren Baker made it clear during today’s introductory press conference for Ross Hodge that it was extremely important that he and the board identify and hire someone who wants to be in Morgantown for the long haul.
“We wanted someone of high character. Someone who would truly embrace West Virginia and our values. The passion, work ethic, grit, and determination that makes us Mountaineers. Someone we can be proud of and who could embrace representing this state, our university, and this program,” Baker stated. “Finally, we wanted someone that we knew would entrench themselves in West Virginia. This is a great place to live and work. It’s a privilege to represent Mountaineer Nation and we felt it was important the next head coach and their family put down roots and truly embrace being here.”
Hodge has no ties to the state of West Virginia, but that doesn’t mean he and his family can’t become adopted natives. They know how important Mountaineer basketball and WVU sports are to the people of this state.
When asked about how he would vocalize his commitment to WVU beyond the contract, Hodge gave the following response:
“This move was not an easy move for me, I’ll be perfectly honest. We talked a lot as a family; we shed a lot of tears. We had deep, meaningful relationships in Denton and that’s very important to us. People are important to us. It’s not something that we take lightly – moving a family. There was probably only a handful of situations that we would have even considered. Wren mentioned it, me personally, I had several opportunities to leave when I was an assistant at North Texas for what some people would say were bigger and better opportunities at bigger brands, higher levels, more money…ultimately, that’s not what I’m interested in. I’m interested in people and being in a place that we can call home.”
