West Virginia Basketball: 10 candidates to replace Bob Huggins as head coach

Ben McCollum

When making a major coaching hire like this, it’s important to leave no stones unturned. At initial glance, making a hire like this seems completely out of left field. No matter what he’s accomplished, McCollum has never played or worked at the D1 level in college athletics, so why would he be a good fit to lead West Virginia?

Born in Iowa, McCollum has spent most of his collegiate life at Northwest Missouri State, as player, assistant, and head coach. He’s been entrenched as the head coach of those Bearcats since 2009 and has turned them into the best program at the D2 level, winning national championships in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022. It’s only a matter of time for McCollum gets his shot at the D1 level, but there’s another reason why he’s mentioned here.

Current West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker actually served as AD at Northwest Missouri State early in McCollum’s tenure as head coach. Baker is familiar with McCollum and could bring his old coach aboard to Morgantown. This isn’t just one guy scratching another guys’ back, McCollum has led this program to four of the last six national titles and has won a ton of basketball games. However, the enormous leap from D2 dominance to the Big 12 is massive for any coach and would certainly come with growing pains no matter when it happened.