Honor Huff Explains Why Ross Hodge & His Secret Weapon Will Get WVU Back on Track

West Virginia appears to be in good hands, and former WVU guard Honor Huff provides insight as to why.

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Year one for Ross Hodge in Morgantown was full of ups and downs, but it finished with a championship trophy in the College Basketball Crown, making the Mountaineers one of just a handful of teams in all of college basketball to end the season with a win.

21 wins and a seventh-place finish in the best league in America is a pretty admirable job when you consider how he threw that team together over the summer while piecing together his coaching staff.

This morning, now former WVU guard Honor Huff dropped by for the latest episode of Between The Eers, and I asked him why he feels like the program is headed in the right direction and will be back toward the top of the Big 12 sooner rather than later.

“I think it just starts with the coaching staff. These guys are great at galvanizing a group, especially a group that is unseen prior. Like, we just got here with fifteen new players. Their ability to galvanize a group, and motivate a group, and get the most out of a group," he said.

"Like people feel like Trey (Eaglestaff) maybe didn’t fulfill his full potential but I think he did because the way this coaching staff and group never gave up on him, it gave him so much confidence and joy beyond just scoring the basketball, and what he was able to bring to the table otherwise, I think all stemmed from this coaching staff and this group that they brought in. They don’t bring in any knuckleheads in the locker room, nobody that’s going to be a deterrent to what they feel like is going to enhance us as a group. I think they’re in great hands. And just how he recruits so strategically, Coach Hodge. He’s not just going out to get the best talent; he really sits down and really analyzes this guy is going to be able to do this for us and this guy is going to be able to do this. The way he strategizes this stuff, I think they’ll be in good hands forever.”

Huff even noted how there were a handful of games where Hodge helped bail the team out with some of the things they did defensively, and that the effort he demands on that end of the floor will be what keeps West Virginia in position to win games consistently.

The other key piece to West Virginia's future is assistant coach Yusuf Ali, who has been on an absolute tear on the recruiting trail. He's responsible for landing the highest-rated recruit in program history in Miles Sadler, along with Aliou Dioum, and Georgia Tech center transfer Mouhamed Sylla. Not to mention, 2026 center Amadou Seini, who just completed a visit to WVU on Monday.

Ali did not have any impact on Huff's decision to come to WVU, as he wasn't added to Hodge's staff until October. But throughout the season, the two build a strong bond, and Huff explained why he believes he's experiencing so much success recruiting.

“That’s actually one of my favorite coaches of all-time. On road trips, me and Morris (Ugusuk) are roommates, and Yusuf would come in our room at night like every road trip, and we would just be chilling in the room. He’s just such a people person; he’s so personable, and he relates to us because he’s a little younger. He relates to us, and just his personality, like he can talk to a freakin’ brick wall. He could talk to a brick wall and think the brick wall is going to talk back. He has stories for days. Just his demeanor towards you, it makes you want to be like ‘Oh, I want to be where that guy’s at.’ I think he does a great job on the recruiting trail. Obviously, he’s doing great things, and trust me, it’ll keep coming. It will never stop because of who he is as a person.”

Moving forward retention is going to be a big piece of the puzzle for Ross Hodge, and that includes holding onto Yusuf Ali. The longer he's on staff at WVU, the better for the Mountaineers.