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WVU Basketball Coach Ross Hodge Praised By Best Virginia's Jarrod West, John Flowers

ByJoseph Smith|
Mar 15, 2025; Fort Worth, TX, USA; North Texas Mean Green head coach Ross Hodge reacts against the UAB Blazers during the first half at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images
Mar 15, 2025; Fort Worth, TX, USA; North Texas Mean Green head coach Ross Hodge reacts against the UAB Blazers during the first half at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

If anyone knows about what it takes to succeed on the basketball court for WVU as well as to succeed as a basketball coach, it's current Best Virginia Head Coach Jarrod West.

This summer, West has led the WVU basketball alumni squad to their deepest run yet in six appearances during The Basketball Tournament (TBT), an annual single-elimination basketball invitational with a $1 Million prize for the winning team. He is also about to embark on a journey as an assistant coach for the women's program at Division 2 Glenville State (WV) after a successful stint at Clarksburg Notre Dame High School (WV) that included the program capturing the 2017 WVSSAC Class A State Championship.

He played his college ball for WVU and was a four-year letterman for the Mountaineers, averaging 10.6 points per game during the team's 1997-1998 Sweet 16 run. So when he shares his thoughts on incoming first-year WVU coach Ross Hodge, it's probably worth listening to.

Hodge and some of his incoming players were in attendance during Best Virginia's TBT Quarterfinal won Monday and helped place the team's name in the on-site bracket into the semifinal round after the victory. Following the game, West offered his thoughts on Hodge's support and his approach to re-building the program at WVU.

"The key word I buy-in...being around the new WVU staff and the players we're bringing in, all but one transfer," West said. "You wouldn't recognize, or you wouldn't think that everybody are transfers, because the coaching staff has done a great job at getting good young men to come in and buy into his vision and his process. And they drove down I-79 and brought that for us."

Best Virginia player and General Manager John Flowers also shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Hodge helped the team via donations and through connecting the team with James Reese V, who played under Hodge at North Texas and is now Best Virginia's leading scorer during their current tournament run.

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