MORGANTOWN — There was no pause, no hesitation as Josh Eilert spoke from the heart and with kind words about his predecessor Monday.
Enter Eilert as the interim WVU men’s basketball coach. No career wins.
He follows Hall-of-Famer Bob Huggins, who resigned on June 17 with 935 career victories.
“Anybody that had to take this role was going to feel a lot of pressure,” Eilert said.
No kidding.
Except Eilert isn’t some outsider. He’s tied to the hip of Huggins in that the former coach was the reason Eilert is in Morgantown to begin with, and likely the reason Eilert never left to explore other options in his 16 years here.
To that point, WVU remains tied to Huggins’ hip, too, whether university officials like that idea or not.
Behind the scenes, there may still be a bit of turmoil between the two — Huggins and WVU — if you listen to the buzz on the street or on social media.
Except this was at a press conference Monday afternoon inside the WVU Coliseum.
Cameras were rolling. The microphones were live, and reporters were recording every word said by Eilert and WVU athletic director Wren Baker.
There was nothing behind the scenes about this. This was as much on the record as you get, and on the record, WVU isn’t taking the position of distancing itself from Huggins one bit.
At one point, Baker even went as far as saying there will come a time when the school will honor Huggins.
“From an institutional perspective, he’s an important part of our history,” Baker said. “We’re going to honor and recognize that in an appropriate way as we move forward.”
The last couple of months have been a public relations nightmare for both Huggins and WVU.
There was Huggins’ homophobic and religious slurs used on the Cincinnati radio airwaves in May.
When that brought about a three-game suspension and a $1 million pay cut for Huggins, the school took some heat nationally for being too lenient.
Six weeks later came the final straw. A DUI arrest in Pittsburgh was something WVU officials could not sweep under the rug or mildly excuse.
Huggins was gone. Officially, he resigned. Unofficially, it was either resign or be fired.
Years can go by, and those six weeks will not be forgotten or wiped clear from WVU’s basketball legacy.
At the moment, emotions are still raw for everyone. That includes the fans, the players and probably even Eilert, too.
“Sunday, the sun came up and it was a new day. We turned the page,” Eilert said of the day after it was announced he was hired as the interim coach. “We’re going to move on. We’re going to keep building and grinding.”
We are still in knee-jerk reaction mode toward Huggins, unable to see the overall picture through the heap of negative vibes.
And this is where maybe Baker shined the most during Monday’s press conference.
He had every opportunity to throw Huggins under the bus. The former coach’s name was mentioned at least 20 times over the course of 70 minutes.
Baker could have grabbed that microphone and thrown all that ills the WVU program onto Huggins’ shoulders.
He could have painted a picture of a scorned man, one out for blood and vengeance.
Rather, Baker spoke of respect and compassion, somehow being able to see the overall good Huggins brought to the school, the state, the city, as well as the basketball program.
“The last couple of months, I know it’s not what he wanted to happen,” Baker said. “It certainly isn’t what we wanted to happen. Time has a way of healing all wounds. As time goes along, I think there will be more and more focus on all of the positive things that happened here during his time.”
In truth, Huggins did so much more right than he did wrong.
Forget the wins and losses. There are people in this state right now battling the terrible disease of cancer. They are getting top-notch medical treatment right here in West Virginia in some small part due to Huggins’ relentless fundraising for cancer facilities and treatment.
Through the good and the bad, WVU will always be joined at the hip with Huggins. It’ll be that way 20 years from now, even 50 or 100.
To fill all of that time with resentment, it just doesn’t make sense. Baker made that point crystal clear. As he should have. It’s the right thing to do.
“I don’t think I would ever say he needs to stay away,” Baker said. “When you have somebody like that who the fans love and is passionate, that’s not the right course of action.”
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