MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On Thursday afternoon, WVU head coach Ross Hodge met with the media at the Basketball Practice Facility to talk about the evolving landscape of the men’s basketball program. Hodge, who arrived from North Texas in March, is West Virginia’s fourth head coach in four years. That constant change has led to a staggering 47 different players wearing a Mountaineer jersey since the team’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Maryland in March 2023. Only a handful of players, such as redshirt freshman Abraham Oyeadier, are returning this season.
Hodge sees a clear parallel between today’s college basketball and the junior college scene he came from, where annual roster turnover was the norm.
“There was a time when there was a negative stereotype associated with junior college coaches,” Hodge said. “I got my first head coaching job when I was 25 and coached against some legendary, hall of fame coaches that to the common person, those names don’t mean much, but they mean everything to me.”
He added,
“They easily could be sitting in my chair right now, and it’s like, ‘Well, they only have guys for a year or two and can they take four-year guys and develop them?’ Now, it’s obviously flipped to where you are going to have high roster turnover, and you are going to be merging a group of guys together and how quickly can you get them to come together playing for one purpose and one reason?”
While at North Texas, Hodge dealt with his top players being recruited by higher-profile programs. Still, he managed to lead a team with only three returnees to a 27-9 record and an NIT semifinal appearance.
“It’s kind of a new norm that we’ve all had to deal with,” he said. “If you can bring back three or four players now, you feel like you’ve brought back dang near your whole roster.”
His current approach, formed during his time at Midland College, centers on recruiting players with winning backgrounds. Many of the athletes on WVU’s new 12-man roster come from programs that reached the postseason. These include players from Chattanooga, UNC Wilmington, Troy, South Carolina, St. Bonaventure, and North Texas. Hodge explained,
“These guys have experience winning, and they kind of understand that part of it and what winning takes. Then, you try to get them to understand, ‘Okay, how are we going to win together?’ You don’t have to teach them how to win, necessarily.”
On assembling a cohesive team, he said,
“Some of it is you do the best you can assembling it and then when you get them all together you kind of figure out what the team’s strengths and weaknesses are, address it and build it from there.”
One of the program’s most exciting additions is Amir Jenkins, a four-star guard from Worcester, Massachusetts, who reclassified to join WVU a year early. ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla called the signing
“Christmas in July.” Hodge said, “We feel really fortunate for that. It is a situation where he originally planned on doing another prep year, but a lot of those guys now have so many credits that they can graduate as juniors if they want to. It was more a matter of him becoming comfortable with the opportunity we had for him. We just went really hard and really aggressive with him, and we’re excited to add him.”
Looking ahead, Hodge confirmed that the team still has one scholarship to offer.
“We’re working on that daily,” he said. “At this point in time, it’s best available more than anything. Commonly, basketball fans look at rosters and they always want you to add another big guy, which I get, but I usually have to remind people there is really only one big guy out on the floor at a time, and there are usually three little guys around him, but we have pretty good roster balance right now.”
He added,
“We’re trying to add the right person, as much as anything” a player who fits the system and comes from a winning culture.
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