Report: Eilert tabbed as interim head basketball coach for West Virginia
West Virginia has tabbed assistant Josh Eilert as the interim head coach per reports.
The news was first reported by Hoppy Kercheval of Metronews. WVSports.com has confirmed that West Virginia intends to hire Eilert for the position.
Eilert spoke with school officials Thursday night and the decision was made to tab the assistant in the role after a search process that spanned a eight-days.
West Virginia has been searching for a new coach after Bob Huggins resigned Saturday following a DUI charge in Pittsburgh the night before. Given the timing that made finding a replacement in short order critical especially with a roster that was one of the nation’s best as far as incoming transfers.
Eilert spent 15-seasons with the Mountaineers on staff first as a video coordinator before moving into the Assistant Athletics Director for Basketball Operations. He was promoted to a full-time assistant in July of 2022 after the departure of Erik Martin to South Carolina State.
Before his most recent time as an assistant, Eilert served as an interim during the 2016-17 season where he was responsible for on-court scouting, off-campus recruiting and developing.
Eilert followed Huggins to West Virginia from Kansas State where he served as a graduate assistant.
This will be the first head coaching role for Eilert who is expected to handle the role for the 2023-24 campaign.
The Kansas native is a graduate of Kansas State and brings continuity to a situation that has been thrust into uncertainty over the last week. Now, the task for Eilert will be to hold the roster together.
The decision was made in large part due to the concerns over the roster and how Eilert could help to hold things together to give West Virginia longer for a search.
Eilert steps into a situation where the Mountaineers are coming off a 19-15 campaign where the Mountaineers made it to the NCAA Tournament.
This off-season the program invested heavily in the transfer portal with one of the top classes nationally by adding players such as Syracuse center Jesse Edwards, Arizona point guard Kerr Kriisa, Montana State guard RaeQuan Battle and Manhattan guard Omar Silverio.
That is on top of the program keeping players such as forward Tre Mitchell, guard Jose Toussaint and guard Jose Perez for an additional season of eligibility.
WVSports.com will have more on Eilert in the near future.
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