MORGNTOWN — Josh Eilert closed the curious case of Jose Perez during his media conference Tuesday.
The WVU men’s interim basketball coach cited student privacy laws that kept him from going too far into a discussion on Perez, who was removed from the team last week after never having played a game for the Mountaineers.
Yet Eilert did not shy away from the situation or ignore the fact this was his first major impactful decision he’s had to make for the program since taking over as interim in July.
“I’m in charge of this basketball program and leading this basketball program,” Eilert said. “Like I told all of our guys, I’m going to do what’s in the best interest of everybody in the program. I’m going to make the right decisions in the best interest of everybody. That’s the way I look at it.”
Perez first came to WVU at the start of the 2022-23 school year as a transfer from Manhattan. He was coming off a season in which he averaged 18.9 points and 4.5 assists, a season in which he topped 30 points three times.
His potential seemed interesting at the very least, yet he was never granted a waiver by the NCAA and was forced to sit out last season in order to play his final season now.
That changed last Saturday when WVU released a statement saying it had parted ways with Perez.
The Bronx, N.Y. native who is 25 years old and earned his Regents Bachelor of Arts degree at WVU, did not go quietly.
In a post on social media, Perez claimed Eilert removed him from the team for missing study halls. He also claimed he was “thrown to the street like a dead animal” in the post.
“I’m not going to get into that,” Eilert said when asked about Perez’s claims. “I talked about the non-negotiables at the first team meeting, and there’s a lot of non-negotiables. I wasn’t going to compromise the integrity of the program or the culture of the program. We’re moving forward. We’ve got a great group of guys. Everybody else on the roster is doing things the right way. We’re going to reward those guys and move forward.”
Eilert added he was proud of Perez for earning his degree, but he envisioned a number of players on the roster would step up in Perez’s absence.
“I think it’s going to empower a lot of guys,” Eilert said. “There were a lot of guys on the roster who probably felt like they were in the background, so to speak. Now they see they have a really good opportunity and those guys have done things the right way. I think it’s going to empower them and give them confidence to move forward and really help this program.”
As to what the Mountaineers will be missing without Perez, much of that is unknown. He was able to practice and work out with the team while sitting out last season, but he hasn’t played in a real game since March 8, 2022.
“What we’re talking about is Jose was here 10 months, but he never played,” Eilert said. “We’re acting like we’re filling a void. Sure, he was on the roster with every intention of him playing and being a part of this program. There was a lot of talk out there he was going to be a starter and this, that and the other. There was nothing to this point that I said that promised he’d be to that level. We had a lot of guys competing with him.”
The Mountaineers do face a shortened roster without Perez, and the possibility remains the NCAA won’t clear guard RaeQuan Battle for immediate eligibility this season, either.
Eilert said the school still has heard nothing back from the NCAA on Battle’s situation.
Eastern Michigan transfer Noah Farrakhan is also sitting out this season due to transfer rules.
Without any of those players, WVU could be entering the season with just 10 scholarship players and a walk-on.
Two of those players — Jeremiah Bembry and Ofri Naveh — have never played a second of college hoops before, leaving WVU with just eight players with Division I playing experience.
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