In an article recently published by Trilly Donovan of Burner Ball, he spoke with Jay Kuntz about the wild offseason the program has had.
Kuntz, originally from Wallingford, Connecticut, arrived in Morgantown in 2008 and has not left since. Kuntz started out as a student manager before eventually working his way up to the position he received last offseason, Director of Personnel and Recruiting.
Bob Huggins gave Kuntz this promotion, essentially giving him the task of building a roster for that upcoming season.
“I made my own equation of how to grade guys out,” said Kuntz. “One big thing for me is efficiency offensively and defensively. How they grade out is important, especially when you’re bringing in a guy that is going to play impactful minutes.
“We took two systems that I heavily rely on and combined them. I talked to a person much, much smarter than me in the math world and they came up with an output where I could have those two systems combined. I don’t base everything off of analytics, though. There has to be an eye test and you have to have a feel for it as well.”
With the work Kuntz put in that offseason through the transfer portal, the Mountaineers were able to bounce back from a lackluster season and comprise one of the most efficient teams Bob Huggins had during his tenure. They finished the 2021-22 season ranked 66th in KenPom efficiency rating and then jumped all the way to 19th at the end of this past season.
Kuntz was not done there though, going right back to the transfer portal just days after the Mountaineers season ended in March. The first name he contacted? Kerr Kriisa.
“Kerr was someone we were very excited about. His recruitment was hard because he’s a household name and he’s a guy that’s had a lot of productivity in a short period of time. He’s a guy that we knew could come in and be a difference maker.”
Kuntz says that Kriisa was his first target because he knew if the Mountaineers were able to secure a commitment from the former Arizona guard, they would have a very good chance at securing commitments from the other top guys in the portal.
Following the commitment from Kriisa, the Mountaineers then secured the former Syracuse big man, Jesse Edwards.
The Mountaineers were then able to bring in RaeQuan Battle from Montana State following the help of a couple former players.
“RaeQuan is a special kid for many different reasons on and off the floor. He had prior relationships with Emmitt Matthews and Erik Stevenson and those two guys were extremely influential in helping him get to know us as people and as a coaching staff.”
During the summer, Bob Huggins resigned following his DUI in Pittsburgh which took a toll on Kuntz, someone who had been with Huggins in Morgantown for 15 years.
“Uncertainty. Disappointment without question. Obviously I care about coach a lot. I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity he gave me.”
Just a week later, Josh Eilert, a close friend of Kuntz, was named the interim head coach for this upcoming season.
“Josh is one of the smartest and most hard-working individuals I’ve ever been around. He’s been a great role model and I’m very excited for a guy who’s been like a big brother to me. I’m going to do everything in my power to help him keep this job.”
Donovan asked Kuntz on how he would describe this off-season and he did not put it lightly.
“World War 3. That’s the best way to put it. As with any tough situation in life you have to try to look for the positives. It was unfortunate what occurred, but you can’t live in the past or live in that moment. You’ve got to fight forward.”
