Candidate list: WVU searches for a new head men’s basketball coach

That said, I’ll admit I’m also mining for information on who will become West Virginia’s next men’s basketball head coach, but I acknowledge that I can’t confidently point to any candidate or two who leads the field. I have put together a list of over a dozen possibles, but if you want honesty, I can’t yet pare that down with any certainty.

It’s actually easier to provide you with those who I don’t believe will be West Virginia’s next men’s basketball head coaching job. As I say with many things, though, you never say never because circumstances can change, but let’s start with those unlikely to be the Mountaineers’ 23rd men’s basketball head coach.

John Beilein, retired — The former Mountaineer coach, who amassed a career record of 754-425 (1982-2019) in his stints at Michigan, West Virginia, Richmond, Canisius, Le Moyne and Nazareth, is one of the best head coaches the college game has known. West Virginia’s administration reportedly made a serious run at him last summer to see if he was interested in stepping in as interim head coach when Bob Huggins departed, but ultimately Beilein passed on the opportunity.

He’s now 71 years old and seems content to sit back, enjoy retirement and not get back into the chaos of today’s college world.

Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics — If the timing were right, the former Mountaineer point guard (2006-11) would be a viable candidate to return to his alma mater … but the timing isn’t right.

The 35-year-old from Johnston, Rhode Island, native is in his second season as the head coach of the Boston Celtics, who have been one of the top teams in the NBA during his reign. This year the Celtics have the best record in the NBA and are currently the odds-on favorite to win the World Championship. He’s certainly not going to leave that job at this point to return to the college ranks, especially before the NBA playoffs are completed in June … and West Virginia can’t wait that long to have a new coach in place.

Grant McCasland, Texas Tech — Again, timing is everything. WVU AD Wren Baker hired McCasland as the head coach at North Texas in 2017, and he guided the Mean Green to five 20-win seasons in six years there (total record of 135-66).

If this were the spring of 2023, McCasland would certainly be a leading candidate at West Virginia, but Texas Tech plucked him last year.

He’s continued his success with the Red Raiders, leading them to a 23-10 mark and an NCAA berth this season. The 47-year-old from Irving, Texas, seems firmly entrenched in Lubbock.

Chris Holtmann, DePaul – Though his tenure flamed out at Ohio State, as he was fired on Feb. 14, 2024, in the middle of his seventh season with the Buckeyes (137-86 overall), Holtmann is still held in high regard by many in the coaching business. It was suggested by some he would be a good fit at West Virginia, but DePaul took the first swing on the 52-year-old from Lexington, Kentucky, hiring him last week as the Blue Demons’ next head coach.

Mark Byington, James Madison — If you believe the Internet chatter, the fourth-year JMU coach is the leading candidate to become West Virginia’s next head coach.

Don’t believe everything you read, though.

Those with knowledge of the Mountaineer situation, who will also admit they don’t know WVU’s ultimate choice, say it is NOT going to be Byington.

Admittedly the 47-year-old from Salem, Virginia, has a solid resume, having previously posted a record of 131-97 in seven seasons at Georgia Southern. Now in his fourth year at James Madison, Byington has led the Dukes to a 219-136 mark, including a gaudy 31-3 record this season that includes a Sun Belt Conference championship and a berth in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

All that seems good, yet reportedly he’s not nearly as high on the Mountaineers’ list as some would lead you to believe.

Again, never say never, but that’s what I’ve been told, as his agent appears to be pushing his candidacy at WVU to help bring about a better contract from James Madison or to attract the attention of other programs.

Jay Wright, retired, Roy Williams, retired, Jim Boeheim, retired, and Bob Huggins, unattached — No

Some, though admittedly not all, of the names below are likely on Wren’s shortlist. There are certainly others who have Baker’s interest but are flying under the radar at the moment. WVU’s A.D. indicated that his preference was a candidate with head coaching experience at the Division I level, so that’s what I’m focusing on here, though admittedly Baker’s search could take him in another direction as well.

Steve Forbes, Wake Forest — The 58-year-old from Lone Tree, Iowa, has spent his professional career rising through the ranks, which included assistant stints at a variety of schools like Texas A&M and Tennessee, as well as head coaching opportunities at a pair junior colleges (130-34), as well as East Tennessee State (130-43 from 2015-20) and now at Wake Forest.

He has rebuilt the previously downtrodden Deacon Demons and has a four-year record there of 70-53 with a 20-13 mark this season.

Forbes is doing well at a power conference program, but the feeling is that he may have grown frustrated at the ceiling at Wake, which is the smallest school in the ACC and reportedly has limited NIL resources.

Mick Cronin, UCLA —Typically for any college to pull away a sitting Bruins’ head coach would seem absurd, especially one who has a 115-53 record in Westwood and led UCLA to a Final Four and two Sweet 16s in a three-year span from 2021-23.

After a 16-17 mark this past season, though, there are rumblings that both sides may be looking for a change. The 52-year-old from Cincinnati, who previously posted a 296-147 mark in 13 seasons leading his hometown Bearcats, may be looking for a new start.

Dusty May, Florida Atlantic — As of this March 17, 41 Division I head coaches have resigned, retired or been fired this season with nine of those coming from the power conference ranks … and there are certainly going to be plenty more openings still to come.

Dusty May is a viable candidate for many of those high-level jobs, including WVU, Michigan, Louisville and several others, as he’s viewed as one of the hottest mid-major coaches in the country at this time.

A 47-year-old from Peoria, Illinois, he’s a 2000 graduate from Indiana and many speculate that he’d preferred to return to his alma mater.

If he waits for IU, that will apparently take at least another year as Hoosier coach Mike Woodson is reportedly going to be retained for 2024-25, despite a disappointing 19-13 record this past season.

If he doesn’t want to wait on Indiana, May will seemingly have his choice of high-profile jobs this year because of what he’s done at Florida Atlantic (125-67 in six seasons), most notably a 35-4 mark last season, which included a memorable run to the NCAA’s Final Four.

May has led FAU to a 25-8 record this season, and he seems poised for a jump to a bigger job.

Darian DeVries, Drake — DeVries is another hot name in the coaching circles, having led the Bulldogs to a 150-54 in his six seasons guiding the program, which includes 20-win seasons in all six campaigns to go along with three NCAA berths.

Drake is headed back to the NCAAs this year with a 28-6 mark and a Missouri Valley Conference championship.

A 48-year-old from Aplington, Iowa, DeVries played collegiately at Northern Iowa and then spent 18 years as an assistant at Creighton before getting the head coach opportunity at Drake.

Unless DeVries wants to wait a while for one of the plum positions in his home state to eventually open (Iowa or Iowa State), this would seem to be the right time for him to explore power conference jobs outside those borders.

Niko Medved, Colorado State — Drake has connections with a lot of good college basketball coaches, and that’s true not only with Darian DeVries but also Niko Medved.

A 50-year-old from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Medved is now the head coach at Colorado State (115-74 in the six seasons including a 24-10 mark this year) after previous stints at Drake (17-17 in 2017-18) and Furman (62-70 from 2013-17, including a 23-11 record his final season with the Purple Paladins).

Niko’s wife Erica is a native of Morgantown, and their wedding was held in her hometown.

Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon — The 49-year-old former first-round NBA draft choice (16th overall pick in 1998 leading to a seven-year professional career) is a part of an elite hoops family.

His father, Homer Drew, is a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame after posting a 640-428 head coaching record with most of those wins coming at Valparaiso.

Older brother Scott followed Homer as the head coach at Valpo in 2002 but spent just one year with the Crusaders before jumping to Baylor, where he’s been ever since (445-242).

In 2011, Drew took over as the head coach at Valparaiso, his alma mater, and posted a 124-49 record in three years there before accepting an opportunity to coach in the SEC at Vanderbilt.

His first season with the Commodores went well (19-16 and an NCAA berth in 2016-17), but things went downhill from there, as Vandy managed just a 12-20 mark in 2017-18 and fell to 9-23 in 2018-19.

Drew was fired by Vanderbilt at the end of that third season, but after one year doing broadcasting for ESPN, his coaching career was resurrected in 2020 at Grand Canyon University.

In four seasons with the Antelopes, he’s accumulated a 91-31 record, including three straight with 23+ win and three NCAA Tourney berths.

He’s led the Western Athletic Conference school to a program-best 29-4 mark this past season.

Pat Kelsey, College of Charleston — A 48-year-old from Cincinnati, Kelsey developed his craft as an assistant coach at Wake Forest (2004-09) and Xavier (2009-11) before getting a head coaching opportunity at Winthrop (186-95 from 2012-21) and now at the College of Charleston (S.C.).

In his three seasons with the Cougars, he’s amassed a record of 75-26, including a 31-4 mark last year and a 27-7 one so far this season.

Amir Abdur-Rahim, South Florida — The 42-year-old native of Atlanta hasn’t been a head coach for long (four years building Kennesaw State, where he was 45-74 overall but 26-9 in 2022-23, and now 25-8 in his first season at USF), but Abdur-Rahim may be poised to turn his fantastic year with the Bulls into a power conference job.

The younger brother of long-time NBA star Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who spent 13 years in the NBA and was a member of the gold-medal winning USA squad in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Amir had USF in the top 25 for the first time in school history.

Dustin Kerns, Appalachian State — A native of Kingsport, Tennessee, Kerns has steadily built App State over the last five years (97-64), culminating with a 27-6 record this past season, though the Mountaineers were upset in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament by Arkansas State, 67-65.

During the 2023-24 regular season, App defeated Auburn and swept a pair of games from James Madison.

Former WVU star Frank Young (2004-07) has spent the past five years on Kerns’ staff at App State.

Anthony Grant, Dayton — The 57-year-old from Miami is a veteran of the college ranks with previous heading coaching stops at VCU (76-25 from 2006-09) and Alabama (117-85 from 2009-15).

He had the Crimson Tide climbing with three straight 20+ win seasons before a slide in years five (13-19) and six (18-14).

He was let go by ‘Bama at the end of the 2014-15 season, but after one year as an assistant coach in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he got another head coaching opportunity in 2017, this time at his alma mater, Dayton.

After a rebuilding effort in the first season at UD, he has posted five straight 20-win seasons, not counting the truncated COVID year of 2020-21(14-10).

This year’s Flyers have arguably been Grant’s best at UD with a 24-7 record. They rose as high as No. 16 in the AP poll, though they were upset by Duquesne in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Danny Sprinkle, Utah State — Mountaineer fans are familiar with a former Sprinkle pupil even if they aren’t familiar with the coach himself.

The 47-year-old native of Pullman, Washington, spent nearly two decades as a college assistant coach before getting his first head coaching opportunity at his alma mater, Montana State, in 2019.

In four seasons with the Bobcats, he accumulated a record of 81-43. His best years at MSU were his final two (27-8 in 2021-22 and 25-10 in 2022-23), parlaying Big Sky Conference championships into NCAA Tourney berths in each.

A big force for the Bobcats during that run was Washington transfer RaeQuan Battle.

After the 2022-23 season, Sprinkle left MSU to take a job at Utah State, and with his head coach leaving, Battle decided to depart as well, ultimately landing at WVU. Sprinkle’s success has continued in his first year with Utah State, as he led the Aggies to the 2023-24 Mountain West Conference regular-season championship and an overall record of 27-6.

Jerrod Calhoun, Youngstown State — Born in East Liverpool, Ohio, and raised in Cleveland, the 42-year-old Calhoun spent a number of his formative coaching years learning under Bob Huggins, first as a student assistant at Cincinnati (2003-04) and then as a staff member at WVU from 2007-12.

Calhoun branched out on his own when he became the head coach at Fairmont State (W.Va.) University in 2012, and in five seasons with the Fighting Falcons, he led them to an overall record of 124-38 and four Division II Tournament appearances.

His best year at FSU was his final one, guiding the Falcons to a 34-3 mark and a runner-up finish in the 2017 D-II tourney.

That success at Fairmont State earned Calhoun a Division I head-coaching job at Youngstown State starting in 2017.

He took over a program with little history of hardwood success (no NCAA Tournament berths and just 10 winning records all time prior to his arrival) and has built it into one of the best teams in the Horizon League.

Calhoun’s overall record with the Penguins is 118-106, topped by marks of 24-10 with an NIT berth in 2022-23 and 22-10 in 2023-24.

Zach Spiker, Drexel — A Morgantown native and former member of John Beilein’s staff at WVU, the 47-year-old Spiker has been a head coach for the past 15 years, including seven at Army (102-112) and now eight at Drexel.

He’s posted a record of 113-129 in his time with the Dragons, featuring a 20-11 record this past season, which was the program’s first 20-win season in a dozen years.

Darris Nichols, Radford — A former Mountaineer point guard (2004-08) who also served as a graduate assistant coach at WVU (2010-11), Nichols spent over a decade working as an assistant college coach with stops at Northern Kentucky, Wofford, Louisiana Tech and Florida before getting an opportunity in 2021 to become the head coach of Radford, which is in his hometown.

He built the Highlanders from 11-18 in year one to 21-15 in year two and then seemed poised to improve upon that this past season.

A 66-65 win at West Virginia had Radford 10-4 heading into the 2023 Christmas break, but the Highlanders stumbled after that and finished 16-17.