West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker spoke to dozens of coaches throughout the search process for the 24th head coach of the Mountaineers basketball program that ultimately landed on Ross Hodge.
Two of those stood out in particular.
Baker called Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland who worked under the athletic director during their time at North Texas and he didn’t hesitate to offer his choice.
“Ross freaking Hodge,” Baker recalled.
It was something that Baker had heard multiple times before over the years when he would compliment McCasland on his defense when he was overtop the Mean Green basketball program, but it was what he said next that only affirmed the direction that he was already leaning.
“He said, ‘he’s ready. You should look at Ross’,” he said.
McCasland warned Baker that it might not occur given the fact that Hodge’s daughter was a junior in high school but that only strengthened his resolve as it reinforced that he put his family first.
The next call was to Michigan head coach Dusty May who had competed against North Texas during his time at Florida Atlantic and without prompting he echoed McCasland’s sentiments that Hodge was ready for the leap to a high major job.
“I said, who are you talking about? He said, the Denton Flash. And I said, well, I was going to talk to you about six or seven candidates,” Baker recalled.
May then reinforced the fact that Hodge was a difficult coach to compete against given his team’s toughness and how he always maximized his roster’s ability. He even pointed to a player that he had formerly coached that transferred to North Texas and how he could get more out of him than even May could.
“So that went a long ways,” he said.
And while those recommendations were critical, ultimately the decision was Baker’s to make, and Hodge checked all of the boxes that he was looking for in the position.
While spending just two years as the head coach at North Texas and going 46-24, he had been a successful assistant at various stops as well as a prolific winner at the junior college level at two different schools.
More importantly, Hodge displayed the character that West Virginia wanted to find as somebody that was going to value not only the passion but work ethic the program wants to embody. Baker had already known Hodge for over a decade and understand he checked those boxes.
Hodge had become known as a culture builder and had done it in various different locations throughout the course of his career. He also checked all of the boxes on the defensive side of the floor.
“He is known for being one of the best young defensive coaches in the country. And when we spent time looking at the teams who competed at the top of the Big 12 over the last decade, they are all elite defensively. So that was a very important quality we desired,” Hodge said.
But Hodge also wanted to make this the job for him.
“As we went through the search process, he talked a lot about this job, how special it was wanting to be here. But it was a different cadence, just a whole different look on his face when he would talk about his wife being from Maryland and getting to bring her home. And so, we're excited for them,” he said.
“He was clear in his desire to plant roots and embrace West Virginians,” Baker added.
