West Virginia AD Wren Baker addresses potential Bob Huggins return as head coach

After just missing out on the NCAA Tournament, West Virginia finds itself starting another coaching search. Darian DeVries departed this week to become the head coach at Indiana, and WVU is now searching for a new headman once again.

Bob Huggins was the Mountaineers’ head coach from 2007-23, but he resigned following an arrest for DUI. That meant Josh Eilert served as the interim in 2023-24, and DeVries came in this past year as the full-time coach.

Now, DeVries is heading to Indiana, and fans are wondering if Huggins could potentially return to his alma mater. AD Wren Baker received a question about that during his press conference this week, and declined to go into specifics about candidates for the job.

“I’m not going to talk about candidates,” Baker said. “I think I answered that last year by saying, appreciate our tradition, especially his contributions to it, but really focused on the future. And that’s probably the same way I would answer it today. Other than that, I don’t have a lot to offer in terms of specific candidates.”

When asked if he wouldn’t speak about Huggins because he is a candidate, Baker responded with the same answer. He said he wouldn’t discuss “any specific candidates.”

Huggins spent 16 years in Morgantown and had a 345-203 record with West Virginia, his alma mater located in his hometown. He resigned in June 2023 following an arrest for DUI, which came just a few weeks after he restructured his contract after saying a homophobic slur on Cincinnati radio. However, Huggins later released a statement saying he didn’t resign.

After Bob Huggins’ departure, West Virginia struggled under Eilert. The Mountaineers finished 9-23 overall and 4-14 in Big 12 play before ultimately kicking off a nationwide search for a full-time coach. That led WVU to DeVries, fresh off a successful run at Drake.

DeVries won two Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year awards with the Bulldogs and made three NCAA Tournaments with the program. He had a 150-55 overall record in Des Moines before making his way to West Virginia. The Mountaineers went 19-13 this past season, including 10-10 in Big 12 action, and ended up as the first team out of the NCAA Tournament.

Just a few days after Selection Sunday, news broke of DeVries’ departure. He’s now heading to Indiana to replace Mike Woodson as he returns to the Midwest. With the search underway, On3’s Pete Nakos reported two names starting to emerge as top targets for the West Virginia opening.