Exclusive Interview: Former WVU Head Coach, Now Utah Assistant, Josh Eilert

A Kansas native who made West Virginia his home becomes the head coach of the Mountaineers’ basketball team. I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Josh Eilert, and this is a glimpse inside of the misrepresented story that was the chaos in Morgantown, and how this great coach and better man handled it.

Josh Eilert with the West Virginia Mountaineers

Quick Briefing

June 17, 2023. Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins resigns/is fired after a pair of irreparable mistakes. The means of his departure depends on which party you ask. On June 24, WVU named long-time staffer and recently-promoted assistant coach, Josh Eilert, to an interim head coaching gig. The job was to be reassessed in the off-season.

The Solution-Less Problem

Coach Eilert had just come off his first full season as the Mountaineers’ assistant and quickly became in charge of a spiraling and rapidly devolving situation in which he was only given an interim tag. He was tasked with fixing a solution-less problem and his job depended on it.
Eilert said this in reference to his unique challenge upon being appointed head coach, “I talked to coaches all summer and they’re talking about the challenges…they have one or two spots left. We had basically five guys on roster and midsummer had to figure out how to put together a competitive roster.” An issue of perspective in which WVU was a prime example of the saying, “It could always be worse”.
The 2023-2024 season was supposed to be special for West Virginia. Instead, eight players jumped in the transfer portal upon news of the coaching change.
“Be a professional…control what you can control…try to be the best version of yourself…just keep grinding.” Josh Eilert focused on these core components with the guys he had. He knew the path ahead was going to be tumultuous and his guys needed to be well-rounded. I asked Josh about his coaching philosophy. Aside from applying those messages, he never really got to form his own coaching identity.
“The way I wanted to play, we couldn’t do that…what we did better probably than any other year is we adapted to what we had.”
Eilert had to form a coaching identity over night. However, it was almost a triage-style to stop the bleeding within the program. Adaptability was the name of the game for the Mountaineers. Eilert instilled that trait into the team, as statuses were constantly changing throughout the year. The season may not have gone favorably, but the art of his coaching definitely shined through.

The Magic Lies Within

WVU’s season was one marked by a historic number of losses, but very few talk about the magic of this absurd time. Josh Eilert was able to lure Kerr Kriisa back to Morgantown after he entered the transfer portal. He was suspended the first nine games of the season due to an issue from his time in Arizona. The Mountaineers had to wait until mid-December to get their eventual scoring leader, RaeQuan Battle, and Nah Farrakhan back. They were previously prohibited from participating due to transfer rules before a judge issued a restraining order against the NCAA. This team experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. They lost by as much as 36 against Cincinnati and Texas. In a one-week stretch, however, they took down #25 Texas and #3 Kansas in Morgantown.
“We were capable of beating about anyone, but we could lose to anyone.”
Through talking to Coach Eilert, I learned that, despite this team’s inefficiencies, they truly were in battle for each other. They had each other’s backs and fought each and every day. WVU’s win against Kansas was especially memorable for Josh. They beat Kansas on “Coaches vs. Cancer” day, and Josh’s father lost his fight with cancer seven years ago. He grew up in a Kansas State-supporting household and made the school his alma mater. To be able to beat his family school’s rival as well as WVU’s rival was twice as nice.
The 2023-2024 Mountaineers will forever be tainted by their 9-23 record, but the true glory was the work that went in to field a competitive team and maintain the cohesion and brotherhood among the squad.

The Golden Rule

If you are a WVU fan, I would safely assume you are passionate about your fandom. Odds are you discuss or post online about what transpires. This year, fans were highly critical of the basketball team’s performance. That is mostly expected with a historically poor performance. I asked Josh about how he handled the sometimes harsh criticisms that were thrown around online:
“I wanted to win more than anyone…I was hard on myself, so to be in that vacuum and see all that negativity…it wasn’t good for my mental health.”
He added that assistant coach Jordan McCabe actually took over his social media and changed his password, noting it as a greatly beneficial action.
“People don’t realize how distracting it is for the program, and especially for young adults 18 to 21 years old…it affects me, 43 years old…but for an 18 to 21 year old it certainly weighs a lot heavier.”
Having passionate fanbases is certainly a double-edged sword. Our favorite teams are filled with kids. These guys are not that far removed from high school and just want to make a name for themselves and their team. Coaches, for the most part, fight tirelessly to put their guys in the best position to win. Coach Eilert is a prime example of that kind of class-act coach. The fans want nothing but the best for the organization, but it’s just that, they want nothing but the best. Fans should never lose their passion, but I would never want to see negativity thrown toward a group of guys fighting tirelessly for their team, university, and state.

Josh Eilert’s welcoming as the Utah Utes Assistant Coach

Get Your Climbing Shoes

Josh Eilert had always dreamt of being a head coach in a “fairytale situation…going up on a podium and getting a long-term contract.” His dream came true, but in the most unconventional and testing manner possible. Now an assistant coach for the University of Utah, he works to re-climb the mountain-this time in a more natural and permanent manner. His whirlwind of a time as WVU’s head coach was not in vain, though.
“The record sometimes doesn’t speak for the life lessons that everybody took from that whole situation…there’s gonna be that 9-23 stamped on my forehead, but for me it was an incredible growth opportunity.”
Sometimes, the best things come from where you’d least expect them. Life throws us curveballs and we have two choices: roll with the punches and grow or let life’s unpredictability beat us down.
Josh Eilert experienced something unique that few, if any, can ever add to their resume. Because of this and his love for the game and players, he will once again be called “head coach”. This time, however, there will be no interim tag. He will be at the podium and happily accept his long-term contract.