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

Joe Mazzulla

We’re not quite done with former Huggins underlings, but we’re not talking about his coaching tree this time. Yes, someone who actually played at West Virginia under Huggins is a legitimate candidate for this job, and Mazzulla certainly has much bigger things going on for him right now.

Though originally recruited by John Beilein, Mazzulla spent most of his college career under Huggins, helping lead them to the Final Four in 2010 as one of the team’s captains. His coaching career was mostly under the radar, with gigs at Glenville State and Fairmont State, before becoming the latter’s head coach in 2017. He caught the eye of Brad Stevens and joined his Boston Celtics’ staff in 2019. After Ime Udoka was dismissed this past year, Mazzulla became the head coach of the Celtics.

First and foremost, why would the head coach of the Boston Celtics leave that job, even to take over his alma mater? This is not a hire that would be made in the coming weeks; Mazzulla is a more legitimate candidate if West Virginia opts for the interim options and undertakes a big search next spring. With how the Celtics struggled at times late this past season, it’s possible that Mazzulla could be looking for a new job by then. Either way, he’d have significantly more job security at West Virginia and would bring unique experience to the Mountaineers.