It Won't Be Huggins or Beilein for West Virginia

West Virginia will have a new coach soon and it won't be a familiar face.

I'm not breaking any news here by stating that neither Bob Huggins or John Beilein will be the next men's head basketball coach at West Virginia - much to the chagrin of many Mountaineer fans. It's not a certainty that they are ruled out, but I don't get the sense that's the direction athletic director Wren Baker wants to go in.

Both Huggins and Beilein are in their early 70s and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to hire someone who may only want to coach for a handful of years before riding off into the sunset to enjoy retirement. 

Not only does this put you back in the same exact position in a handful of years (or less) but it would also be incredibly challenging to recruit high school talent given the uncertainty of how long they'd be willing to lead the program. Even in today's world where the portal is king, high school recruiting will remain key for schools like West Virginia, across all sports.

If Baker were to hire either former WVU coach and it doesn't go well, then proceeds to miss on the successor, it could make his future in Morgantown a bit murky. Why go through two coaching hires in a span of four or five years and run that risk?

As great as both Huggins and Beilein were in their stints as the Mountaineer head coach, they've had their time. And quite frankly, we're in a different era of college basketball. Now, WVU needs to shift to a younger coach that they can build with for years to come. Someone who can relate to the players, understand the importance of NIL and the transfer portal and know how to use both aspects of it.

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