With the departure of Bob Huggins following a DUI arrest last Friday, the West Virginia Mountaineers men’s basketball team is at a crossroads.
Now with Huggins gone, players can freely enter the transfer portal right away with no penalty and transfer freely to a school of their choice and be eligible for next season without a waiver.
Through the uncertainty, two former Mountaineers currently with roles in the NBA are trying their best to help keep the program together.
According to a report from basketball insider Adam Zagoria, West Virginia alumni Joe Mazzulla, the head coach of the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Mike Gansey reportedly met with the team via Zoom. In that Zoom call, the two urged the Mountaineers to keep the team together through this adversity.
West Virginia is currently in the midst of a national coaching search according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Thamel also called the job attractive due to the “NIL opportunities that helped lure one of the top transfer classes to Morgantown,” this offseason.
West Virginia is coming off a 19-15 season which included a 7-11 record in Big 12 play. The Mountaineers made the NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 seed, falling to the Maryland Terrapins in the first round. The program has made the NCAA Tournament nine times since the 2009-2010 season.