If Ross Hodge was leaving North Texas, he wanted to find a place where he could plant roots. Turns out that’s exactly what Athletic Director Wren Baker wanted in a candidate for the next head coach as well.
“We felt like it was important the next head coach and their family put down roots and truly embrace being here,” Baker said.
West Virginia certainly has those qualities on the basketball side of things but also offered the right fit for Hodge and his family with just the location itself.
Hodge and his wife Shelly have two children, Emery and Reed and it was a family decision to make the choice to leave their deep ties in Denton.
For one, the decision brought Shelly back closer to her family in Baltimore, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
It also brought them to a place where they can embrace the location and scenery.
“The Morgantown community, we love mountains. We love rivers. We love lakes. There’s something about being in the mountains,” Hodge said.
It’s something that Hodge mentioned during the interview process that there’s something spiritual about being around nature and it dates back to growing up in the country.
He would then move to the city in Dallas during his formative years and admittedly had never been an avid outdoorsman, but things changed once he took the assistant job at Colorado State.
Hodge served as an assistant with the Rams from 2012-16 and it was during his time in Fort Collins where he discovered his love of the outdoors.
“Was the opportunity to get connected and go on hikes and spend time in the mountains and it lets you know there’s something much bigger than you out there,” he said. “And there really is something divine about spending time in nature, and my family loves that, and we can't get the opportunity to do that.”
Throw on top of the people in the community with the opportunities that the basketball program provided, and it made the decision a no-brainer for Hodge to make the move to the Mountain State.
“I’m interested in people and being in a place that we can call home,” Hodge said.
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