Ross Hodge has had the pleasure of being surrounded by some great coaches over his career.
Hodge spent time working as an assistant under Larry Eustachy at Southern Mississippi and Colorado State, as well as Grant McCasland at Arkansas State and Texas Tech.
During his playing days, Hodge was coached by Billy Foy at Paris J.C., and both played and coached under Sam Walker, who is the all-time winningest coach at Texas A&M Commerce.
“I’ve been really fortunate to be around coaches that really mix it all together,” Hodge said.
When it comes to Eustachy, Hodge describes him as a “master of simplicity,” as his teams were incredibly tough, didn’t turn the ball over and played strong defense. Meanwhile, the connection with McCasland is one that has been well documented, as he spent seven years as his assistant at two different stops.
Hodge has only been a head coach at the Division One level for two seasons but has been part of NCAA Tournament teams as an assistant and teams that have won.
“I've had an opportunity to look at it from afar, and I do know what it takes,” he said.
So, naturally heading into his first high-major coaching job leading West Virginia, there is confidence in what he is doing and how he will go about building the program. That starts with the people that he will put around him on the coaching staff and then will trickle down the players and everything else needed to win.
And ultimately get West Virginia back to the biggest stage as quickly as possible.
“One of the positives is when you do take over a program like we're taking over that maybe hasn't been in the NCAA tournament in a couple years, you do have the opportunity to revamp it and do it quickly,” he said.
The construction of the coaching staff will be a key element in that and while he isn’t putting himself on any sort of timeline at this stage to complete that work there are certainly options to choose from in that pool.
“There’s an incredible excitement around this program and there’s not a shortage of people that would love to come be a part of this,” Hodge said.
The head coach made it clear that he would indeed bring some staff members with him from his previous stop at North Texas but then will start the process of evaluating things and attempting to piece the rest of the puzzle together on what the final product will look like.
“You're trying to put fits and personalities that can ultimately magnify my strengths and help me on my weaknesses,” Hodge said.
That process is going to include identifying people who fit what he wants on the floor and will have an impact with their approach on the players on the roster, too.
“People that love other people, people that want to serve these young men that we get to be around every day, and impact them in a way, and understand that the best way for all of us to have individual success, even as staffers is winning, and the more you win, the more opportunities we all get,” he said.
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