Read more: Ross Hodge Introduced As Next Men’s Basketball Coach At Press Conference
Morgantown, W.VA.- Ross Hodge spoke to reporters Thursday morning during a press conference officially introducing him as the next head coach of the WVU Men’s Basketball Team.
Hodge served as the head coach for North Texas over the last two seasons and led the Mean Green to the NIT Semifinals.
”Country roads, take me home! Man, this is an incredible honor. This is a blessing and this is an opportunity that I certainly don’t take lightly. The one thing you hear when you hear anyone talk about West Virginia, the first thing that comes out of everyone’s mouth is you will love these people. There is not better people anywhere on this planet than the people of West Virginia.”
– Coach Hodge
Hodge On Recruiting
During the press conference, Coach Hodge expressed his vision for the West Virginia Men’s basketball program, emphasizing that he would take no shortcuts in recruiting to shape his roster.
Coach Hodge went on to discuss the current landscape of college athletics with the transfer portal, referring to players that stick around year after year (regardless of head coaching changes) as “unicorns.”
Many fans in West Virginia expressed concern of WVU being behind in recruiting due to waiting for Hodge to finish his season with North Texas in the NIT semifinals before coming to Morgantown. Coach Hodge responded to this concern by stating he would have been recruiting the entire time whether he was coming to WVU or not.
Whether it was us, or you’re like Florida and Houston, or any of those teams still playing, you were going to spend probably… 30% of your time preparing for your games and the other 70% of your time you were going to be recruiting the portal.”
-Coach Hodge
West Virginia and Coach Hodge will be at a level playing field with the rest of college basketball thanks to a current one week dead period in recruiting.
Hodge On Building His Coaching Staff
Coach Hodge told members of the media that although he is eager to get started in West Virginia, he is in no rush to put together a coaching staff.
“I’m not putting myself on a timeline. There’s an incredible excitement around this program and there’s not a shortage of people that would love to come be a part of this.”- Coach Hodge
Defense Wins Championships
Coach Hodge made it clear that defense was the key to winning basketball. Hodge named Houston as the standard of winning basketball and great defensive play, as Houston has been the Big 12’s top team since joining the conference in 2023.
Read: WVU Earns Second Place in Round One of NCAA Regionals.
As Hodge continued about the importance of great defensive play, he pointed out that over the last eight seasons, Houston and North Texas were the top two teams in scoring defense. Hodge went on to say “they certainly plan on bringing that style of basketball and brand here” (to WVU).
“We plan on being one of the best defensive teams in the Big 12 which makes us one of the best defensive teams in the country, which gives us the opportunity to play extended basketball in March.”- Coach Hodge
Hodge Praises Mazzulla’s Success In Boston
Former Mountaineer and current Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was a topic of discussion for Ross Hodge during the press conference.
“Coach Mazzulla, what he’s doing with the Celtics, it’s someone that I admire with his ability to profess his faith on a big stage in a time where that gets lost. His messaging is something that inspires me. Just his overall approach to life is awesome and I can’t wait to use him as a resource.”- Coach Hodge
Coach Hodge Comments On Former Coach Huggins
“I can remember sitting in my living room, and it brought tears to my eyes when I saw it, and in a lot of ways it still does touch me emotionally. In 2010, when Da’Sean Butler tore his ACL and Coach Huggins went out on the floor and you could see the love and the compassion that he had for his players. I’ll never forget Coach Huggins kneeling down there and both those guys were shedding tears. It’s something that inspired me.” -Coach Hodge
Hodge On Remaining In West Virginia
After a wild three years for WVU Men’s Basketball with three head coaches leaving after only serving a single season, Hodge was asked what many fans are wondering, will he stick around?
Coach Hodge got emotional on the stand when talking about his mother, making it clear he is a family man who has their best interests in mind, seeming to indicate it would take a tremendous offer to put his family through another move.
This was not an easy move for me… People are important to us and it’s not something that we take lightly putting it like that; moving a family. There was probably only a handful of situations we would have even considered leaving my family there in Texas.”- Coach Hodge
Coach Hodge Speaking About His Mother And Father
“She’s the toughest person I know. If any description that goes towards me as being like a tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar…my mom…she worked three jobs at one point in time. She drove the big old school buses and she’d wake up at 4:30 to go to the bus barn and get the bus, drive the bus, go teach at the high school, and then when that was over went to JC Penny’s. She’d have stretches where she worked 20, 21 days in a row without taking a day off. If you watch our team play and you say, man, that’s a tough team…that’s a tough woman right there. My father passed away and he’s in heaven, and what better way to get closer to him than Almost Heaven?”- Coach Hodge
