After Darian DeVries departed for Indiana and the entire 2024-2025 roster left, West Virginia was left once again to start the basketball program from scratch. Athletic Director Wren Baker has made great head coaching hires in the past and chose North Texas head coach Ross Hodge to become the fourth coach in four years at WVU.
With Hodge comes a lot of unknowns to the fans. With only two years of head coaching experience at the Division 1 level, he will need to take a huge jump this season as he heads to the Big 12.
What is Hodge planning here at WVU? This is a question unknown to many of the fans here in the state, but early in the transfer portal, Hodge seems to have a vision for where he wants his program to go. He is beginning to model West Virginia after a powerhouse team in their own conference.
Houston, who made it to the national championship last season, has created a model under Kelvin Sampson that has proved successful. Surrounding length and defense with elite guard play brought the Cougars one game away from glory.
Early in the transfer portal, Ross Hodge seemed to take that vision and run with it. He began his recruiting process by bringing in three defensive forwards with great length. Harlan Obioha, a 7-foot center from UNC Wilmington, was the first addition to the roster, bringing elite size to guard the other Power 5 bigs. Jackson Fields and Brenen Lorient were the other two defensive-minded forwards that Hodge immediately recruited when coming to Morgantown. Fields is a 6’8 forward from Tory who can guard every position, while Lorient was the AAC sixth man of the year, averaging 11.9 points last year at North Texas for Ross Hodge while being one of the best defenders on the team.
After getting this size and strength, Hodge immediately went after elite guard play. Honor Huff, who averaged 15.2 points and led the country with 131 threes, was the next big recruit to choose Hodge. He will be a star for this team, choosing the Mountaineers over schools such as St. John’s and Pittsburgh.
The latest pickup to the Mountaineers, who will become one of the best backcourt duos next to Huff next season, is North Dakota State transfer Treysen Eaglestaff. Eaglestaff averaged 18.9 points per game, including 40 points against Alabama and 51 against South Dakota State in the last game of the year last season. Originally committed to South Carolina, Hodge and West Virginia seemingly poached him from the Gamecocks.
Two other key additions for the Mountaineers include Chance Moore and Jasper Floyd. Moore, a 6-foot-6 transfer from St Bonaventure, will be another lengthy, defensive-minded player for Hodge who can get a bucket if needed. Floyd, another North Texas transfer who followed Hodge, is trending to be a sixth man for the Mountaineers. His defense and knockdown shooting will be huge for WVU later in games.
With still so much of the offseason remaining and six more scholarship spots to be filled, Hodge will continue to find players who fit into his defense-minded scheme. Although a Houston-level team is not yet there for WVU, it’s great to see Hodge with a clear vision for what he wants his roster to consist of and how he wants his team to perform.
