Wren Baker will not allow finances to impact West Virginia coaching searches

The West Virginia basketball program put in a bit of a stop-gap measure by promoting assistant coach Josh Eilert to interim coach for the next 10 months in the wake of Bob Huggins’ sudden resignation this summer. And the program’s athletics director has been quick to note money won’t be an issue in the upcoming West Virginia coaching search.

Huggins stepped down after he was arrested and charged with DUI, leaving a void at a really inopportune time on the calendar.

Rather than panic and make a scramble hire, athletics director Wren Baker opted to give things a year to play out so he can make a permanent hire on a more normal timeline. And when he does make that hire, he doesn’t expect that money will be any sort of limiting factor in his West Virginia coaching search.

“I think when you’re leading an athletic program you can’t lead out of fear,” Baker said. “You kind of have to be aggressive and put it all out there. So yeah, we wouldn’t let, in this search or any others, the finances be a hindrance.”

Eilert has been on the West Virginia staff for the last 15 seasons, serving as director of basketball operations before moving into an assistant coach role. He has never been a head coach, but appears ready to take over the Mountaineers for at least one season in the wake of Huggins’ resignation.

It’d be reasonable to assume, though, that he’s unlikely to be the permanent coach barring an outstanding 2023-24 season that really puts West Virginia on the radar nationally.

That’s what Baker is focused on in a hire: nab someone in the West Virginia coaching search who can make the state proud.

“We are not the most, from a population standpoint, we don’t have the most people in the state,” Baker said. “We’re one of the lower-populated states, but we command the attention of everybody in this state and we have some great, great supporters. We have people that have stepped up in the last few days to help us in a variety of ways.”

West Virginia has a fairly decent basketball tradition, in part built by Huggins.

The Mountaineers have reached two Final Fours, three Elite Eights and have made a total of 28 NCAA Tournament appearances. The path to success is straightforward with the right coach.

Money won’t be a factor in the West Virginia coaching search.

“Yeah, I can’t envision financial constraints being a factor in any of our coaching searches because it’s just too important to the state that the program represents the university and the state the right way,” Baker said.