Grant McCasland Had a Message for WVU Fans Questioning Ross Hodge

In the first Big 12 battle between two friends, Grant McCasland came out victorious over his good buddy and first-year West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge.

When you look at the stat sheet, the Mountaineers virtually won every phase of the game that didn't involve shooting the basketball. They were a dreadful 2/22 from three and went just 13/23 from the charity stripe. Even as Texas Tech had a three-possession lead in the final seconds of the game, WVU continued to fight until the final buzzer, something McCasland warned his team about — they were going to get a 40-minute battle.

After the game, McCasland, as you would expect, praised Hodge not only for the battle the two just faced each other in, but also for how he is the right man for the job in Morgantown.

“I was the head coach at Midland Junior College in 2006, and he was the head coach at Paris Junior College. He was 24 years old. We played each other at McMurray University in a scrimmage, and he had one of the best teams in junior college basketball, and we had one of the best teams in junior college basketball. They beat us and beat us pretty good. It’s funny, one of the assistants that we both worked with sent a text message to both of us and was like why didn’t y’all ever coach opposite teams? And I told him because I know better. When you do life with people, and you do things that have never been done at universities, there’s just a lot that goes into it. There’s a weird part of this where I just want a lot of success for him. I know this game makes us better. That’s the one thing I walk away from it knowing, like he’s always made me better. As a person. As a husband. As a coach. I just knew this game would make us better. Either way, win or lose.

"I love him because I know what a competitor he is. People can have their own opinions on what they think this program is, but like he is built for this in a way that I can not explain. He’s one of the toughest, most resilient, demanding people in the right way, and he believes in people in a real way. He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever met, and I knew this would be his opportunity at some point, and he’s deserved it. They’ll be unbelievably hard to beat, and he’ll keep making this program better.”

While it may be frustrating for Mountaineer fans to see this team well out of the NCAA Tournament picture, this year's product is not a sign of what's to come. As a matter of fact, it should provide some optimism. This team is not nearly as talented as Darian DeVries' squad was a year ago, and yet, they are a game above .500 in the toughest conference in America, eleven games into the slate.

All Hodge needs is a little time to get this thing humming. We're not talking three to four years either. He has an intriguing trio of incoming freshmen on the way, has a couple of pieces to build around with Amir Jenkins and DJ Thomas, and will, of course, have the transfer portal to help replenish the production and depth lost from this year's group.

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