Josh Eilert addresses pressure of taking over for Hall of Fame coach

Josh Eilert has never been a head coach before. He only ever worked as a graduate assistant, video coordinator, director of basketball operations and, eventually, assistant coach under Bob Huggins for the last 17 years.

That’s changing now. Eilert was officially named the interim head coach at West Virginia last week, replacing Huggins — at least, for the 2023-24 season. Despite the way it ended, those are some big shoes to fill considering Huggins went into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame last year.

Eilert knows it, too, and isn’t hiding from the pressure that comes with taking the role.

“Yes,” he said with a chuckle when asked if he feels that pressure.

Huggins had a 345-203 record at West Virginia in 16 seasons as the head coach before his resignation in wake of an arrest for DUI, which came six weeks after he appeared to utter a homophobic slur on Cincinnati radio. Still, his Hall of Fame-worthy career makes him a tough act to follow on the court.

That’s why Eilert said no matter who WVU hired for the role, it’d be a tough task to replace Huggins. After all, he took the Mountaineers to 11 NCAA Tournaments and a Final Four.

“I mean, anybody that had to take this role is going to feel a lot of pressure,” Eilert said. “He’s a Hall of Fame coach, and very few people have to do that. I look at it as an opportunity to — I don’t want to say people have low expectations, but I’m excited to show what I can do and what our staff can do and what our guys can do and how we can get them bought in. It’s in a difficult situation. So I see as an opportunity.”

Now, Eilert is tasked with not only leading a smooth transition from Huggins, but also retaining the roster. West Virginia was one of the biggest winners in the transfer portal this cycle, bringing in the No. 4-ranked transfer class, according to the On3 Team Transfer Portal Rankings.

One piece of that group was Kerr Kriisa, the Arizona transfer who went back into the portal after Huggins stepped down. However, after Eilert’s hiring, he told On3’s Joe Tipton of his plans to withdraw and return to Morgantown.

Others have left, though, including Joe Toussaint and Mohamad Wague. As they weigh their options, Eilert made his pitch to keep the roster in tact.

“I’m also going to say the message here: We’ve got something special,” Eilert said. “We’ve got a special group of individuals, we’ve got a special administration, we’ve got a special staff and we can do something really, really neat here and turn this thing around, turn the page and keep the tradition alive of the Mountaineer culture.”