Eilert focused on the now and later in role at West Virginia
Josh Eilert is mindful of the interim tag attached to his role as the head coach at West Virginia.
But Eilert clearly has bigger goals not only for himself but the rest of his coaching staff outside of just being atop the program through the end of this coming season.
“I plan on being here. Our assistants, we have a great group of young assistants and we’re building a culture. We plan on being here,” Eilert said.
And it’s something he is backing up with his actions as well as Eilert and his coaching staff have been active targeting recruits for not only next season but several classes ahead of that. The program has also been active when it comes to hosting official visitors for future classes as well.
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Despite the uncertainty, Eilert has been selling the positives in the program.
“We have a great group of guys that want to work every day and bring energy every day and the guys in there gravitate towards,” he said.
Eilert also believes that his coaching staff, despite their inexperience in their roles, is one of the best in the country when it comes to individual development. The Mountaineers have four assistants in DerMarr Johnson, Jordan McCabe, Da’Sean Butler and Alex Ruoff with each of them playing at a high level of college and even professional basketball prior to flipping over into the role of coaching.
The Mountaineers experienced a lot of turnover this off-season in various stages, but the culture being built within the program has helped to settle some of that down. It also helps matters that three of the assistant coaches all played for West Virginia and understand the program.
“I think we have a great group with a lot of chemistry and it’s building each and every day and it’s at the forefront of building this culture and this program for where we need to go,” Eilert said.
The Mountaineers have already flashed their potential as recruiters as the program was able to quickly rebuild the roster after a series of departures when former head coach Bob Huggins resigned his post. Among those were late adds to the roster such as Georgetown forward Akok Akok and St. John’s forward Quinn Slazinski to round out the front court depth on the team.
So, while the focus is on the here and now the work being done for the future is also ongoing. Expect the Mountaineers to remain persistent when it comes to building for the future despite each of the coaches understanding that they must win this year to even have a chance to keep their roles.
“We’re going to keep recruiting and put ourselves in position to have this job in a year,” Eilert said.
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