Monday, November 6
Morgantown, W.Va.
7 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Missouri State
Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Eilert Controlling What He Can Control As He Leads Mountaineers Into 2023-24 Season
November 05, 2023 11:51 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Josh Eilert admits he often sits at his desk in the basketball practice facility and looks at the picture of his family taken by local photographer Dale Sparks during Eilert's introductory press conference last June with director of athletics Wren Baker.
Contained within that photo were emblazoned the words "interim coach," its implications abundantly clear to Eilert. Interim does not mean permanent and five months from now, another pivot might be required.
But Eilert's first pivot was considered a smashing success.
At the time of his hiring on Saturday, June 24, the vultures were already beginning to pick at the carcass that West Virginia basketball was becoming.
Its Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins, who accomplished more than any other coach in school history over a 16-year period, including 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, four Sweet 16s and a Final Four trip in 2010, abruptly retired.
That meant for 30 days in July, West Virginia had a roster of free agents. And with name, image and likeness (NIL) dominating every aspect of college sports these days, the vultures were circling Morgantown.
Eilert managed to survive July and preserved enough of the roster to give Mountaineer fans hope for the 2023-24 season.
There have been instances in WVU history similar to what Josh is dealing with now. In February 1950, graduate assistant Loren Ward had to coach the team when coach Lee Patton was seriously injured in a car accident while returning to Morgantown after a game at Penn State.
Complications from those injuries eventually claimed Patton's life following the season. Ward actually steered WVU to a 3-2 finish with victories over Washington & Jefferson, Penn State and Pitt.
In 2002, when Gale Catlett took a medical leave of absence that eventually turned into his retirement, his nephew Drew Catlett coached the squad for the remainder of the year and was credited with WVU's final five losses that season.
There was also one instance when assistant coach Jeff Neubauer had to step in and coach a game for John Beilein when Beilein was suffering from back spasms.
Of course, what is required of Eilert this year is entirely different. And the obstacles that have continually been placed in front of him are virtually unprecedented.
Starting with a roster of just five eligible players, Josh pieced things back together in July. It began with the assembling of his staff on July 2, the reaffirmation of key transfers Jesse Edwards and Kerr Kriisa, and then the signing of Florida State transfer Jeremiah Bembry on July 12. Iona forward Quinn Slazinski was added on July 24 and then three days later, senior advisor James Dickey was brought on board for wisdom and advice.
Israeli forward Ofri Naveh was added to the team on Aug. 9. Georgetown transfer Akok Akok was signed on Aug. 21, Eastern Michigan's Noah Farrakhan came aboard a day later, although he is ineligible to play this year, and then Gannon transfer Ali Ragab was added to the roster on Sept. 7.
But with each step forward, Eilert has had to deal with two steps back. The NCAA denied Manhattan transfer Omar Silverio's transfer waiver on Aug. 10. Montana State transfer RaeQuan Battle's initial waiver request was denied on Oct. 23. He is currently appealing.
A week later, West Virginia officially parted ways with Manhattan transfer Jose Perez, who subsequently transferred to Arizona State.
Akok Akok suffered a medical emergency during a charity exhibition game against George Mason on Friday, Oct. 27, requiring him to be transported to Ruby Memorial Hospital. His status for this season is unknown.
Then, last Tuesday, on Halloween, Eilert learned that Kriisa must sit out the first nine games of the season for receiving impermissible benefits that occurred before he enrolled at WVU. The nine-game suspension was the result of a cooperative agreement between the NCAA's Student-Athlete Reinstatement Staff and West Virginia University.
Today, that leaves Eilert with a roster of just nine available players for Monday's season opener at the WVU Coliseum against Missouri State, which returns three starters from last year's 17-win team.
And casting a long shadow over Eilert is the specter of having to follow a living legend in Bob Huggins, who spent a good portion of the charity exhibition game taking selfies with adoring Mountaineer fans and signing autographs.
"In our coaches meeting (Thursday morning) I said, 'Guys we're about as low as it gets (in terms of good fortune),'" Eilert chuckled the other day. "But we've still got a smile on our faces when we come to work.
"(Kriisa's suspension) certainly presents another challenge, but within the challenges and the adversity come a lot of opportunities to learn and grow, not only from a coaching standpoint and our staff trying to meet those challenges head on, but also for our players," Eilert added.
Assistant coach Da'Sean Butler, who has known Eilert since he was a 19-year-old WVU player, has a unique perspective of what makes the Osborne, Kansas, native tick.
Eilert has dealt with each setback and moved forward in a positive fashion. There's simply no time to complain about it.
"Everywhere there's adversity, regardless of whether you are in New York City, Atlanta or here in Morgantown, West Virginia," Butler explained. "Josh has seen his fair share of adversity – probably none like this before from a head coach – but if there is anybody I'm not worried about leading the troops it's my guy coach Eilert.
"He just doesn't crack when bad things are happening or bad information is coming at him," Butler continued. "Honestly, at the end of the day, he just trusts our staff to do what they need to do, and our players have made it a little easier for him, too. Josh has been very transparent and honest with our players, and he makes it easy for our staff to be accountable."
Eilert made it clear to everyone last Thursday that he is not a victim, nor is the West Virginia University men's basketball program.
There are a lot more pressing things going on in life than how many eligible players he currently has on his basketball roster.
"Yeah, it looks like everything is going against us right now, but maybe the tide is going to start turning," Eilert said. "Maybe things are going to start going our way, and that's the way we are going to have to operate. We might get even more challenges, who knows? Right now, we're trying to win the day, so to speak, and we're trying to figure out how we prepare ourselves with what we have, going forward."
Butler has a message for fans who are accustomed to winning and soaking in the many recent successes of the Mountaineer men's basketball program.
"Let's just be consistent all-around," he said. "We're not victims. Bad things have happened, but we're going to move forward, just like bad things have happened in the past in this state and the state has moved forward. We don't want our players to feel like, 'Woe is me.' That will never be our message. We will continue to take it one game at a time and put one foot ahead of the other."
And for those expecting Eilert to be a Bob Huggins clone on the court or during postgame press conferences and his weekly radio shows, that's just not going to happen. They are two different personalities entirely.
Josh Eilert needs to be Josh Eilert.
"I think people know that," Eilert admitted. "I've been presented an incredible opportunity, and my opportunity is to lead these young men and try and put them in the best place to succeed.
"Certainly, I could hang my head every day, but what good is that going to do?" he added. "There are a lot of people in life going through a heck of a lot more challenges than what I'm going through on a basketball court, and we haven't even played our first game."
All Eilert can do moving forward is put on his blinders and block out the noise. He owes that to his players. He owes that to his employer, and most importantly, he owes that to himself.
"Control what I can control," he explained. "That's helped me sleep at night since day one of getting this job. There are so many things outside of my control that you just have to let it go and do the best you can with what you can control."
"Josh is under control at all times," Butler added. "I have not seen him lose his mind and forget what the mission is, and we've had a lot of things go on recently, but he just does a great job as a leader of staying calm, cool, collected and always being the smartest guy in the room. He's just been a great leader."
Now, the time has arrived for the games to count. The journey begins on Monday night at 7 p.m.
ESPN+ will have television coverage of the game and popular Tony Caridi will lead the radio call on Mountaineer Sports Network affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
Contained within that photo were emblazoned the words "interim coach," its implications abundantly clear to Eilert. Interim does not mean permanent and five months from now, another pivot might be required.
But Eilert's first pivot was considered a smashing success.
At the time of his hiring on Saturday, June 24, the vultures were already beginning to pick at the carcass that West Virginia basketball was becoming.
Its Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins, who accomplished more than any other coach in school history over a 16-year period, including 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, four Sweet 16s and a Final Four trip in 2010, abruptly retired.
That meant for 30 days in July, West Virginia had a roster of free agents. And with name, image and likeness (NIL) dominating every aspect of college sports these days, the vultures were circling Morgantown.
Eilert managed to survive July and preserved enough of the roster to give Mountaineer fans hope for the 2023-24 season.
There have been instances in WVU history similar to what Josh is dealing with now. In February 1950, graduate assistant Loren Ward had to coach the team when coach Lee Patton was seriously injured in a car accident while returning to Morgantown after a game at Penn State.
Complications from those injuries eventually claimed Patton's life following the season. Ward actually steered WVU to a 3-2 finish with victories over Washington & Jefferson, Penn State and Pitt.
In 2002, when Gale Catlett took a medical leave of absence that eventually turned into his retirement, his nephew Drew Catlett coached the squad for the remainder of the year and was credited with WVU's final five losses that season.
There was also one instance when assistant coach Jeff Neubauer had to step in and coach a game for John Beilein when Beilein was suffering from back spasms.
Of course, what is required of Eilert this year is entirely different. And the obstacles that have continually been placed in front of him are virtually unprecedented.
Starting with a roster of just five eligible players, Josh pieced things back together in July. It began with the assembling of his staff on July 2, the reaffirmation of key transfers Jesse Edwards and Kerr Kriisa, and then the signing of Florida State transfer Jeremiah Bembry on July 12. Iona forward Quinn Slazinski was added on July 24 and then three days later, senior advisor James Dickey was brought on board for wisdom and advice.
Israeli forward Ofri Naveh was added to the team on Aug. 9. Georgetown transfer Akok Akok was signed on Aug. 21, Eastern Michigan's Noah Farrakhan came aboard a day later, although he is ineligible to play this year, and then Gannon transfer Ali Ragab was added to the roster on Sept. 7.
But with each step forward, Eilert has had to deal with two steps back. The NCAA denied Manhattan transfer Omar Silverio's transfer waiver on Aug. 10. Montana State transfer RaeQuan Battle's initial waiver request was denied on Oct. 23. He is currently appealing.
A week later, West Virginia officially parted ways with Manhattan transfer Jose Perez, who subsequently transferred to Arizona State.
Akok Akok suffered a medical emergency during a charity exhibition game against George Mason on Friday, Oct. 27, requiring him to be transported to Ruby Memorial Hospital. His status for this season is unknown.
Then, last Tuesday, on Halloween, Eilert learned that Kriisa must sit out the first nine games of the season for receiving impermissible benefits that occurred before he enrolled at WVU. The nine-game suspension was the result of a cooperative agreement between the NCAA's Student-Athlete Reinstatement Staff and West Virginia University.
Today, that leaves Eilert with a roster of just nine available players for Monday's season opener at the WVU Coliseum against Missouri State, which returns three starters from last year's 17-win team.
And casting a long shadow over Eilert is the specter of having to follow a living legend in Bob Huggins, who spent a good portion of the charity exhibition game taking selfies with adoring Mountaineer fans and signing autographs.
"In our coaches meeting (Thursday morning) I said, 'Guys we're about as low as it gets (in terms of good fortune),'" Eilert chuckled the other day. "But we've still got a smile on our faces when we come to work.
"(Kriisa's suspension) certainly presents another challenge, but within the challenges and the adversity come a lot of opportunities to learn and grow, not only from a coaching standpoint and our staff trying to meet those challenges head on, but also for our players," Eilert added.
Assistant coach Da'Sean Butler, who has known Eilert since he was a 19-year-old WVU player, has a unique perspective of what makes the Osborne, Kansas, native tick.
Eilert has dealt with each setback and moved forward in a positive fashion. There's simply no time to complain about it.
"Everywhere there's adversity, regardless of whether you are in New York City, Atlanta or here in Morgantown, West Virginia," Butler explained. "Josh has seen his fair share of adversity – probably none like this before from a head coach – but if there is anybody I'm not worried about leading the troops it's my guy coach Eilert.
"He just doesn't crack when bad things are happening or bad information is coming at him," Butler continued. "Honestly, at the end of the day, he just trusts our staff to do what they need to do, and our players have made it a little easier for him, too. Josh has been very transparent and honest with our players, and he makes it easy for our staff to be accountable."
Eilert made it clear to everyone last Thursday that he is not a victim, nor is the West Virginia University men's basketball program.
There are a lot more pressing things going on in life than how many eligible players he currently has on his basketball roster.
"Yeah, it looks like everything is going against us right now, but maybe the tide is going to start turning," Eilert said. "Maybe things are going to start going our way, and that's the way we are going to have to operate. We might get even more challenges, who knows? Right now, we're trying to win the day, so to speak, and we're trying to figure out how we prepare ourselves with what we have, going forward."
Butler has a message for fans who are accustomed to winning and soaking in the many recent successes of the Mountaineer men's basketball program."Let's just be consistent all-around," he said. "We're not victims. Bad things have happened, but we're going to move forward, just like bad things have happened in the past in this state and the state has moved forward. We don't want our players to feel like, 'Woe is me.' That will never be our message. We will continue to take it one game at a time and put one foot ahead of the other."
And for those expecting Eilert to be a Bob Huggins clone on the court or during postgame press conferences and his weekly radio shows, that's just not going to happen. They are two different personalities entirely.
Josh Eilert needs to be Josh Eilert.
"I think people know that," Eilert admitted. "I've been presented an incredible opportunity, and my opportunity is to lead these young men and try and put them in the best place to succeed.
"Certainly, I could hang my head every day, but what good is that going to do?" he added. "There are a lot of people in life going through a heck of a lot more challenges than what I'm going through on a basketball court, and we haven't even played our first game."
All Eilert can do moving forward is put on his blinders and block out the noise. He owes that to his players. He owes that to his employer, and most importantly, he owes that to himself.
"Control what I can control," he explained. "That's helped me sleep at night since day one of getting this job. There are so many things outside of my control that you just have to let it go and do the best you can with what you can control."
"Josh is under control at all times," Butler added. "I have not seen him lose his mind and forget what the mission is, and we've had a lot of things go on recently, but he just does a great job as a leader of staying calm, cool, collected and always being the smartest guy in the room. He's just been a great leader."
Now, the time has arrived for the games to count. The journey begins on Monday night at 7 p.m.
ESPN+ will have television coverage of the game and popular Tony Caridi will lead the radio call on Mountaineer Sports Network affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
Players Mentioned
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