An Introduction to rumored new West Virginia men's basketball staff members

Over this past weekend, reports began to surface that West Virginia men’s basketball head coach Darian DeVries has two more names lined up to fill out the staff for his first season at the helm in Morgantown.

As the Mountaineer fandom eagerly awaits official news from the program, let’s take a quick look at the two new potential WVU staff members -- Chester Frazier and Nelson Hernandez.

Chester Frazier

The first name to leak was Frazier, an Illinois assistant coach with 12 years of collegiate coaching experience in the Big 10, Big 12, and ACC. Frazier spent his last three seasons at Illinois under head coach Brad Underwood, who praised Frazier as “one of the brightest young stars in the profession” upon his hiring. He is set to become an assistant coach for WVU, the same role he served with the Fighting Illini.

According to Illinois student newspaper The Daily Illini, Frazier is a “strong recruiter” and has several “notable” relationships with Illinois players. He was also the lead recruiter for four-star Class of 2024 prospect Jase Butler -- Butler, ranked the No. 97 overall recruit in his class, recently decommitted from Illinois.

Illinois earned three consecutive NCAA Tournament bids and advanced to the Elite Eight this season with Frazier on staff. His background in coaching before Illinois included seven years as an assistant at Kansas State under Bruce Weber --  the Wildcats won two Big 12 Championships and made five NCAA Tournament appearances during Frazier’s tenure, including an Elite Eight trip in 2018. He also spent time as an associate head coach at Virginia Tech, where the Hokies advanced to one tournament appearance.

Nelson Hernandez

Following a trend many collegiate programs have indulged in recently, including the WVU football program, the Mountaineers are set to bring in Hernandez in to occupy a General Manager role on the staff.

Hernandez will be the first-ever to hold the position in program history, after spending one year with Oklahoma State last season as Director of Player Development. He has also held a similar role with Wright State (2015-16), and also previously served as Director of Basketball Operations for both VCU (2016-17) and LSU (2017-22).

 According to Oklahoma State's athletic website, Hernandez has also played a large role in the communities where he coaches, mentoring youth and building relationships to help benefit the community and to raise the profile of multiple different organizations.