West Virginia’s new head coach, Ross Hodge, is a relative unknown. With only two years under his belt as North Texas head coach, Hodge has risen quickly to a Power 4 position at only 44.
How successful was Hodge leading up to his time with the Mean Green? We take a look at his previous accomplishments here.
Analyzing Ross Hodge’s Success
Hodge played two years of college basketball at Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas, before transferring to Texas A&M-Commerce.
Following his playing career, he became an assistant coach at his alma mater, the Lions, in 2003. There, he coached until 2005 before returning to Paris JC as an assistant. After one year as an assistant in Paris with the Dragons, he took over the head coaching position in 2006.
At Paris, Hodge led the Dragons to an 83-17 record and two Texas Eastern Athletic Conference regular season championships. In 2008, the Dragons finished eighth in the NJCAA National Tournament.
After three years in Paris, Hodge accepted a position as the head coach at Midland College in Midland, Texas. There, he led the Chaparrals to a 63-7 record and finished second in the 2011 NJCAA tournament.
In 2011, Hodge headed to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to become an assistant coach under Larry Eustachy at Southern Miss. He followed Eustachy to Colorado State one year later, where he stayed until 2016 when he joined Grant McCasland’s Arkansas State staff as associate head coach.
Hodge followed McCasland to North Texas, taking the same position in Denton, before eventually replacing McCasland in 2023 when he took over the Texas Tech head coaching position. Together, the two won a CBI and NIT title and saw themselves make one NCAA tournament, upsetting No. 4 Purdue in the first round in 2021.
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At North Texas, Hodge led the Mean Green to a 19-15 season and a second-round NIT loss last year. This year, the Mean Green took another step up, finishing 27-8 and second in the AAC. North Texas lost to UAB in the AAC tournament’s semifinals, finding itself in the NIT, where it is slated to face either UC Irvine or UAB in the Final Four on April 1.
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