In just a matter of days, things have completely come crashing down for West Virginia basketball. After losing in its first game of the Big 12 Tournament against Colorado, the Mountaineers were snubbed from the NCAA Tournament as the first team out of the field.
Things went from bad to worse on Tuesday when head coach Darian DeVries left West Virginia to become the next head coach at Indiana. Now, West Virginia will be searching for its fourth coach in four years heading into 2025-26.
There is still an attractive job in Morgantown of a team that has had recent NCAA Tournament success and plays in a marquee conference in the Big 12. Plenty of quality candidates should be involved in the search for the next head coach at West Virginia. Here are the three people that the Mountaineers should be calling first.
Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics
Let’s get this one out of the way first. Would Mazzulla leave the Boston Celtics, where he has an elite young core that already won one NBA Championship and will have a chance to compete for many more? Probably not.
However, any time you have an alma mater that is as successful in the coaching profession as Mazzulla has been, you absolutely have to make the call. West Virginia fans would love the hire after Mazzulla helped lead the Mountaineers to their last Final Four appearance in 2010 as a team captain.
Would Mazzulla be able to recruit at the college level with his somewhat odd personality? That would have to be proven, but he has clearly gotten a group of pros in Boston to buy what he’s selling. On top of that, he has clearly is one of the elite schematic coaches in the game. It’s reaching for the stars, but this would be a huge get for West Virginia basketball if it could get Mazzulla back in town.
Ben McCollum, Drake
McCollum has risen quickly through the head coaching ranks in college basketball, and he could be in line for another promotion at season’s end especially if his Drake Bulldogs can make some noise in the NCAA Tournament.
McCollum spent 15 seasons at Division II Northwest Missouri State from 2009-24 where he quickly built a winner. During his time there, the Bearcats went 395-91 and won four national championships.
Before this season, McCollum made the jump up to Division I and has not missed a beat. His Drake squad has been arguably the best mid-major in the country and likely would have made the NCAA Tournament as an at-large had it not won the auto-bid as the Missouri Valley Conference Champion. Drake is 30-3 this season and will take on No. 6-seed Missouri in the first round.
One year as a Division I coach may seem a bit premature for McCollum to get such a big-time job like the one with West Virginia basketball, but he has shown that all he does is win. That makes him worth a look here.
Ryan Odom, VCU
Odom is the opposite of McCollum in a way, as it seems that he is long overdue to get a job at a big program in a power conference. Many will remember his March Madness heroics when he led UMBC to the first-ever upset by a No. 16 seed over a No. 1 seed in 2018, but that legendary upset over Virginia was just an indicator of future success for the North Carolina native.
Odom went to Utah State as the head coach in Logan for two seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23, quickly turning around a program that is still seeing success even after his departure. Odom went 18-16 in his first season in the Mountain West, but led the Aggies to a 26-9 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance in year two.
Following the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Odom accepted the job at VCU, where he is finishing up his second season. Like he did at Utah State, he has turned VCU from an NIT team in his first season into an NCAA Tournament team in year two. The Rams won the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship and qualified for the Big Dance with a 28-6 record, and they will take on BYU in the first round.
The post Top 3 candidates to replace Darian DeVries as West Virginia basketball coach appeared first on ClutchPoints.
