MORGANTOWN — Twenty-one years Mike Carey spent inside the WVU Coliseum, and he never knew.
“We were coming in for our walk through and someone said we had to go through the back tunnel,” Carey said with a smile. “All these years here and I never knew there was a back tunnel.”
You have to forgive the UCF women’s assistant basketball coach. When it came to the Coliseum, Carey spent two decades-plus coming in the front door, or any door he chose, for that matter.
Carey, the longtime WVU head coach, made his return to Morgantown on Tuesday, as the Knights fell to the 23rd-ranked Mountaineers 84-43.
UCF flew into Clarksburg, so it was a familiar trip up I-79 for him. Carey has kept his home in Bridgeport and lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Orlando.
“The only lights I ever have on are the kitchen and the bedroom,” he said. “Orlando is different. I don’t think I’ve had to wear a winter coat since I’ve been there. I get outside a lot more in the morning.”
Except this trip was designed to beat the program he once built from the ground floor and into a perennial top 25 contender in both the Big East and Big 12.
“Yeah, without a doubt this is different,” he said.
Carey guided the Mountaineers to 11 NCAA tournaments, the 2017 Big 12 tournament championship and 462 victories.
Carey was honored with a video tribute and a framed jersey prior to tip-off.
When he first took over the Mountaineers’ program in 2001, WVU had suffered through four losing seasons and had won just 11 games combined over the previous two seasons.
By Carey’s third season, WVU was back in the NCAA tournament.
It is a similar situation Carey finds himself in with the Knights (10-9, 1-8 Big 12), who are in their first season as a Big 12 member.
Sytia Messer, the former top assistant at Baylor and LSU under Kim Mulkey, took over the program last season after former coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson was hired at Georgia.
UCF played in the NCAA tournament in 2021 and 2022, but Messer had to rebuild a roster that saw its top returning players enter the transfer portal after Abrahamson-Henderson’s departure.
“Coach Messer is really trying to build a program and I’ve been through that,” Carey said. “Absolutely it feels the same way. It was the same way at Salem, too. Coach Messer has been with some great programs at Baylor and LSU, so she’s been a part of great success.
“It’s a really good situation that I’ve enjoyed greatly.”
Carey retired from WVU in 2022, but his desire to keep coaching never left.
When the call from Messer came, Carey said all it took was one visit to the UCF campus to be sold on a new situation.
The future?
“Honestly, when you get to my age (65), you don’t think too far down the road,” he said. “I’m really enjoying being a part of the UCF program and working with coach Messer.
“You never say never about any situation, but I’m very happy with where I’m at right now.”
