MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University men's basketball coach Ross Hodge has announced the hiring of Phil Forte as an assistant coach.
Forte, a native of Flower Mound, Texas, spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at North Texas. Forte has eight seasons of Division I coaching experience.
"Phil is one of the best young coaches in the country," Hodge said. "The work ethic and character that helped him be a great player in the Big 12 has carried into his coaching career. He has a great understanding of how to help our players to get better on and off the floor. We are happy to have Phil and Madison in Morgantown."
This past season at North Texas, the Mean Green won 27 games and advanced to the semifinals of NIT. The Mean Green ranked third in the country in scoring defense at 60.1 points per game, 1.5 points behind first-place Houston. UNT had the AAC's second-most efficient offense and second-most efficient defense. UNT's 27 wins were the second-most single season wins in school history and the 14 league victories were tied for the third-most league wins in school history.
UNT won 19 games in his first season in 2023-24 and reached the second round of the NIT. The 10 league wins and .555 league winning percentage were both the best by a first-year UNT men's basketball staff. Forte recruited some of North Texas' top performers and helped mentor guard Jason Edwards to first-team all-conference honors. UNT won 46 games in Forte's two seasons in Denton.
"I'm excited to get to work here in Morgantown," Forte said. "I am extremely fortunate to continue to work for a coach and person like Ross Hodge. West Virginia basketball is in great hands with him leading the program."
Prior to North Texas, Forte spent two seasons at Saint Louis under Travis Ford. He helped lead the Billikens to back-to-back 20-win seasons and a combined 44-24 record. SLU reached the semifinals of the 2022 A-10 Tournament and earned an NIT bid that year as well. Saint Louis' 23 wins that year tied for its most single-season wins since 2013-14.
Prior to his two seasons at Saint Louis, Forte was an assistant coach at Sam Houston under Jason Hooten. Sam Houston went 37-22 in Forte's two seasons there.
During his time as a coach, Forte has helped 10 different players to 13 all-conference honors, including five honorees this past season at North Texas and 2021 Southland Conference Player of the Year Zach Nutall at Sam Houston and back-to-back A-10 First Team All-Conference honoree Yuri Collins at Saint Louis.
Forte played at Oklahoma State from 2012-17 and was one of the Cowboys' most decorated guards in program history. He led OSU to four NCAA tournament appearances. He made an OSU record 329 3-point field goals and scored 1,792 career points, which ranked sixth in school history at the time of his graduation.
Forte graduated from Marcus High School in 2012 and was a two-time state champion. He was the MVP of the 2012 Texas Class 5A State Tournament after scoring a game-high 24 points in the championship game and also earned first team all-state honors.
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