Mark Kellogg is the new kid on the block again, but is ready to take on a new challenge at WVU

MORGANTOWN — Mark Kellogg has been in this situation before — four times, to be more exact.

He’s been the new coach before at a new place with new expectations, surrounded by players he’s never coached in a real game.

Kellogg will be there again at 7 p.m. Tuesday, when the WVU women’s basketball team opens its season against Loyola (Md.) at the Coliseum.

“Yeah, I’ll probably be looking around and I’ll appreciate and be thankful for the opportunity,” said Kellogg, who spent the last eight seasons at Stephen F. Austin before becoming WVU’s seventh head coach in the program’s 50-year history. “I went to the men’s exhibition, just to kind of feel that out.

“I think you’re thankful and you’ve worked hard for this opportunity. I’ll look back and see my family in the crowd and just be proud to be the coach here more than anything else.”

Kellogg took over the Mountaineers last April, after former coach Dawn Plitzuweit left the school after just one season to become the head coach at Minnesota.

Kellogg’s resume is impressive — he’s won nearly 79% of the games he’s coached in — but it’s all come at lower college divisions or at mid-major schools. WVU is his first attempt at coaching a Power Five Conference school.

He’s now in charge of a program that won 19 games and advanced to the NCAA tournament last season. The Mountaineers return four starters from that team, including first-team all-Big 12 guard J.J. Quinerly.

Yet it’s not lost on him that he was just on the other side, a mid-major coach who traveled far and wide to play bigger schools early in the season for a large payday.

“That was me for the last eight years,” he said. “I know what these games mean to those mid-major schools and the opportunity it presents. They’re big games for those schools.”

There is a standard of Kellogg has in mind of what he wants to one day see at WVU, not that the Mountaineers are anywhere close at the moment.

“For the most part, he just wants you to play hard,” Quinerly said. “If you make a mistake, you better be going hard when you make it.”

So, what exactly will Kellogg bring to the Mountaineers?

WVU fans can expect a hard-charging full-court pressure defense with the hopes of creating multiple turnovers and scoring opportunities at the other end. It’s the same style he used at Stephen F. Austin, which forced an average of 21 turnovers per game over the last six seasons.

“When he was telling us we’re going to press, I was all about it,” said Quinerly, who led WVU with 66 steals last season. “I love that style of play. I think it’s working out really well for us so far.”

“So far” being the key, because WVU hasn’t been under the lights yet with their new coach, who is still the new kid on the block.

“Winning takes care of itself,” Kellogg said of his expectations. “We’ve talked about it — there is a standard at which I expect them to play to. We will always play to that standard, regardless of who we play or regardless of what the score is. Play to the standard.”