At Mark Kellog’s introductory press conference as WVU’s new women’s basketball head coach, Director of Athletics Wren Baker also spoke on men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins future with the program.
“I’m anticipating that coach Huggins will coach our basketball team next year, maybe for many years,” Baker said
Huggins led the Mountaineers to the NCAA Tournament in his 16th season in charge of the Mountaineers this past season, the 11th time he has done so with WVU. Huggins is now the active leader in Division I coaching wins, with an overall record of 935-414.
Huggins signed a two-year extension in 2021, that renewed his contract through the 2023-2024 season, while having Emeritus status with the program through 2027. Huggins has the ability to delay the Emeritus status, through a mutual agreement between him and Baker, that must be agreed upon by May 1st.
“We have not officially done all of that yet, but I fully anticipate that there’s not gonna be hiccups or issues,” Baker said.
Baker has previously said that he believed Huggins has done a good job adapting the transfer portal and keeping the team together this past season when things went awry.
“I think he did a really nice job getting the team to respond when in the season things didn’t look as good. It’s a different world coaching today with the portal. You’ve got a lot of kids coming in late, and you’re trying to get them to gel as a team who haven’t been through adversity together,” Baker said in a March press conference.
Huggins and the Mountaineers recently secured the commitment of highly-sought after transfer point guard Kerr Kriisa from Arizona for the upcoming season. West Virginia was able to make it back to the NCAA Tournament this season losing to Maryland in the first round. WVU went 7-11 in Big 12 play this season.
