Former Wildcat named interim basketball head coach at West Virginia

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - From Kansas to Country Roads.

An Osborne, Kansas, native and former Wildcat has been named the interim head coach of the Mountaineers men’s basketball team following the resignation and retirement of Bob Huggins.

Thank you again to @wrenbaker, @gordongee & the rest of the administration for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to lead our storied Mountaineer basketball program.

Let’s Go Mountaineers! https://t.co/M0JmhAgFd1
— Josh Eilert (@josheilert) June 26, 2023

Josh Eilert, an Osborne High School alum, continued his playing career at Cloud County Community College from 2000 to 2002 and then at Kansas State from 2002 to 2004. Eilert earned his degree in marketing in 2004 in addition to a graduate degree in college student personnel and intercollegiate athletics in 2007 in Manhattan.

He was named to the Academic All-Big 12 Team as a senior and four times was selected to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Eilert was honored at K-State with the Keith Amerson Academic Award in 2004. While at Cloud County, he earned KJCAA Academic All-America honors as a sophomore.

His coaching career began in 2005 as a Graduate Assistant for the Wildcats until filling multiple roles for the Mountaineers beginning in 2007. Eilert served as an assistant coach the past season and was named Interim Head Coach under a 10-month contract with a $1.5 million paycheck.

This will be his first stint in a head coaching job replacing Huggins who sat at the helm of West Virginia since 2007. Huggins resigned and retired from coaching following a DUI arrest in early June. Further, the former coach came under fire for the use of homophobic slurs during an appearance on a Cincinnati radio show. The shoes left to be filled stretched across 548 games with a 348-203 record.

“Josh Eilert is the right person to lead our men’s basketball program next season,” WVU Athletics Director Wren Baker said. “He has been an important part of our success, and he has displayed great integrity, work ethic and dedication. He has been involved in all facets of our program during his time on the basketball staff, and he has earned this opportunity to coach our team on an interim basis for the 2023-24 season.”

The Big 12 Conference has not released the 2023-24 conference slates, but the Mountaineers will face Missouri State in Morgantown on Nov. 6.