West Virginia men's basketball hires former Division 1 player, Drake assistant Nick Norton in same role

On Wednesday, West Virginia men's basketball head coach Darian DeVries announced the program had hired former Drake assistant coach and NCAA Division 1 hooper Nick Norton to the team’s 2024-25 coaching staff. Norton has been named assistant coach/director of player development for the Mountaineers.

Norton brings familiarity to the staff for Coach DeVries and Drake transfer Tucker DeVries, as he spent the past three seasons with the pair in Des Moines. During his tenure with the Bulldogs, the program achieved an impressive 80-26 record (.755), clinching two NCAA Tournament berths and securing two Missouri Valley Conference titles.

Coach DeVries expressed his excitement about Norton joining the Mountaineers, discussing the multiple attributes that Norton brings he feels adds an edge to the program.

"Nick is a hard worker who brings great enthusiasm and tremendous energy to our basketball program," DeVries said. "He always has a great rapport with our players and has a strong basketball IQ. Nick fits our basketball staff and our program extremely well."

Norton split his time as a player between two programs -- from 2014 to 2018 he started 97 games for UAB, and he spent the 2018-19 season playing for DeVries at Drake. 

With the Blazers, Norton garnered All-Conference USA Third Team honors as a sophomore and earned recognition as the Conference USA Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, averaging 8.9 points per game and leading the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio. He was also named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team during his first collegiate season.

With the Bulldogs, Norton’s season and collegiate career was cut short due to injury. However, he managed to record the program’s second-ever triple-double against North Dakota State, and set a program single-game record for assists (17) in the same game that stood until the 2022-2023 season. He was named Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week three times during the season.

Norton also briefly ventured into the NBA G League following his college career, signing with the South Bay Lakers in 2019 before injuries led him to step away from professional play.

Off the court, Norton comes from a basketball-oriented family, with his father Randy serving as the head women's basketball coach at UAB.