Josh Eilert has his coaching staff in place for the 2023-24 season.
Da’Sean Butler, DerMarr Johnson, Jordan McCabe and Alex Ruoff will be assistant men’s basketball coaches for the basketball program with Johnson assuming his role from last season while the other three are new faces at least in terms of the assistant ranks with the program.
However, each are familiar names when it comes to the West Virginia basketball program as each have suited up for the Mountaineers over the course of their careers.
Butler is the all-time winningest player in West Virginia history and was the centerpiece to the 2010 Final Four team. He scored a total of 2,095 points and previously spent time as an assistant coach at various other stops including the G League and Wheeling. He also was the video coordinator for the New York Knicks but this will be his first assistant coaching job at a high-major.
McCabe spent two seasons with West Virginia where he appeared in 94 career games. This too will be his first major assistant job after graduating from both West Virginia and UNLV.
Rouff has been on the coaching staff as a graduate assistant but again will take on his first major assistant role. He played professionally for 12 seasons and is the all-time leader in three-point field goals for the Mountaineers during his playing days.
It’s a relatively inexperienced, but familiar coaching staff for Eilert to build around with a strong mix of basketball minds. There also should be a comfort level with the players.
As far as experience, Ron Everhart who has been an assistant since 2012 has transitioned into the director of community relations and player outreach. While Jay Kuntz will continue his role as the director of player personnel and recruiting and has been with the program 15 years.
The rest of the coaching staff will be Trent Michaels as the director of men’s basketball operations, Jared Kortsen will be the video and scouting coordinator and Tyler Cheng will remain the athletic data statistician for men’s basketball.
Now with the coaching staff in place the focus can now completely shift toward what the roster is going to look like this season. West Virginia has already gotten commitments to remain in Morgantown from key players such as Jesse Edwards, RaeQuan Battle and Kerr Kriisa, while the rest of the roster appears as if it will remain in Morgantown as well.
After losing Tre Mitchell to Kentucky, the Mountaineers are still fighting to keep others such as forward Mohamed Wague, guard Joe Toussaint and forward James Okonkwo. Each of those players have entered the transfer portal and have either taken or planned visits to other schools.
Depending on what unfolds with those three, West Virginia could go from anywhere from nine scholarship players to twelve which makes the coming days critical for the build of the roster. Expect the Mountaineers to attempt to retain what they can from the transfer portal but if not the program is going to have to be aggressive when it comes to filling those slots.
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