Jerry West 1972
West Played for the Mountaineers from 1957-1960 and became the leader in almost every stat in the WVU record book. He was drafted number two overall in the 1960 NBA draft to the Minnesota Lakers before the team moved to Los Angeles.
Leading the Lakers to a total of nine NBA Finals berths, West was only able to win one championship in 1972. The Lakers beat the Knicks that season in five games while West averaged 19.8 points, 8.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game during the series.
The WVU alum is also the only player in the history of the NBA to be awarded the Finals MVP as a part of the losing team. In 1969 West and the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games. West averaged 37.9 points, 7.4 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game.
As an executive, West was able to help the Lakers win six more championship rings as the team’s general manager. He also moved to help the Golden State Warriors as a consultant for the team to win two more rings in the front office in 2015 and 2017.
Combined as a player and executive, the former league MVP and executive of the year finished his career with a total of nine NBA Championships.
Jerome Anderson 1976
Playing three seasons at WVU from 1973-1975, Anderson averaged in double figures his entire career before moving to the NBA where he would only play two short seasons. He would be selected in the third round of the 1975 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics and win a championship with the team his rookie year.
The Celtics beat the Suns in six games that season and Jerome made an appearance in just one game. On the floor for just over a minute, Anderson went 1-2 from the field, scoring two points, recording a rebound and an assist.
Jonnie West 2015
Son of NBA legend Jerry West, Johnny played four seasons at WVU like his father from 2007-11. He was also a part of the iconic Final Four run the Mountaineers made in 2010. His senior season, he averaged just over eight minutes per game and scored over two point per game.
West would move from college to work as a scout for the Golden State Warriors starting in 2012 and eventually worked his way up to to a players programmer in 2015 when the Warriors won the first title of their recent dynasty.
Quickly West moved up the ladder grabbing different jobs each year before settling as the Warriors’ director of basketball operations. He currently works as the director of Pro Personnel for the Warriors. During his time with the team, West has won a total of four rings with Golden State in 2015, 2017-18 and 2022.
Joe Mazzulla 2024
With the most recent of all championships, Mazzulla started his career playing from WVU from 2006-2011. In his senior season, Mazzulla averaged 7.7 points per game and is also known for being the starting point guard for the 2010 Final Four team. The former WVU guard scored 17 points to beat the John Wall and Demarcus Cousins led Kentucky Wildcats in the Elite Eight.
After going undrafted, Mazzulla took an assistant coaching job at DII schools in WV before getting an assistant job in the G-League. Mazzulla would head back to the DII level as a head coach before being called up to the Celtics in 2021.
Mazzulla would become the interim head coach of Boston due to Ime Udoka’s year suspension. Capitalizing on the opportunity, the WVU grad won three coach of the month awards and represented the East in the All-Star game. He would then be named the formal Head Coach of the team.
In his second season, Mazzulla led the Boston Celtics to a league best 64-18 record and would coast through the playoffs, going 16-3 and beating the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals in five games to win his first ever championship. He became the youngest head coach to win the Finals since Bill Russell in 1969.
