It’s safe to say West Virginia interim head coach Josh Eilert has been through a lot over the past six months. But on Saturday, his team delivered him his first signature win as a head coach, in an 91-85 victory over No. 3 Kansas.
Josh Eilert knows who Kansas is.
Besides being a native of Osborne, Kansas, Eilert played at Kansas State, coached at Kansas State, and then has experienced the Jayhawks’ dominance in the Big 12. As the buzzer sounded and the court at the WVU Coliseum was stormed though, Eilert couldn’t help but think of his dad.
“I grew up in Kansas, I was a Kansas State grad, 95% of people in my family go to Kansas State. So, I’ve watched
Big 8 basketball to Big 12 basketball, and KU has always been a dominant program. I always respected the year in and year out they were winning big,” Eilert said.
Eilert’s late father Jim passed away over six years ago, but the first person Eilert thought of was him.
“The first thing that came to mind was my dad. My dad was a K-State grad, and he didn’t have much of a love affair for
Kansas by any means. I lost him 6.5 years ago, I started thinking about him to be honest with you, how proud he’d been,” Eilert said.
While the court was being mobbed with students, and there was somewhat of a sigh of relief, as Eilert noted that win was something his team needed.
“That one felt good. That is what our guys needed for the confidence to start snowballing in the right direction,” Eilert said.
While the day-to-day grind continues for West Virginia on Sunday, Eilert on Saturday said that this one he will celebrate a little longer.
“I’m going to savor it tonight, I promise you that,” Eilert said. “We’ve been through a lot. This fanbase has been through a lot. It’s just incredible we were 6-11 going into this game and we’ve got 12,000-plus in here supporting us.”
