After filling out last year as interim coach for the men’s basketball coach at West Virginia Unibub City, Joshuairat is now interim coach for Utah. (Photo: Benjamin Powell/Dominion Post)
Justin Jackson
News special
Morgantown – It’s a story you might have dreamed of in creating a think tank, but you’ve rarely imagined Josh Eilat’s story unfolding in real life as it has.
Over the course of two years, Ailat was selected twice as interim head coach. It happened at two big 12 schools, only 1,900 miles and two time zones apart.
I first came to WVU in 2023. He was interim nominated in place of legendary head coach Bob Huggins.
As WVU feels like a must-see situation for climbers, he will coach the climber (17-12, 8-10 12) today at 9pm when WVU travels to Salt Lake City.
“It was a whirlwind.” Ailat said after former coach Craig Smith took over UTES (16-13, 8-10) when he was fired on February 24th.
There’s no joke.
Eilat has been 1-1 since taking over UTES. He was 9-23 in one season at WVU. This includes Arizona’s 99-72 beatdown on Saturday.
“That’s something we really didn’t want.” Ailat said. “The situation we were in, (the players) were absolutely experts in it. They understand the situation. I want to thank them, and it was an honor to guide them through this mess.”
As for Eilat’s situation, there is the opposite side of how his life progressed on a roller coaster in just a few months.
He spent 16 years with the climber and worked from video coordinator to assistant coach under Huggins before taking charge of his 17th season.
These 17 years allowed him to start a family and create roots in Morgantown.
“I told these people from the beginning that life is full of adversity.” Ailat said. “Life is full of challenges and it is on every walk in life. There are so many things you don’t have control, but the way you handle them will prove to be your personality.”
Utah officials said Eilat could move again in a few weeks as they are searching for the next head coach.
Meanwhile, WVU wants to move away from the bubble of the NCAA Tournament.
The climbers managed to finish the regular season with a victory over UTES, UCF.
WVU enters the game ranked 48th in the NCAA net rankings, with both Utah and UCF outside the top 60.
A must-see feeling is that if the climber doesn’t wipe out the last two regular season games, he’s likely to fall out of the top 50 on the net.
In that case, WVU could be outside when heading for the Big 12 tournament.
The climber has not been in that position since torn up Gonzaga and Arizona’s final Thanksgiving turmoil.
Then came the victory over Kansas and Iowa.
WVU has been 4-8 in the last 12 games, including a 72-61 victory over Utah at Morgantown.
But that came while Smith was head coach. No one knows what to expect now with Ailat with Control.
“We’re ready to play Utah when the Utah game is right in front of us.” said WVU head coach Daryan DeBrees. “They still have really good players and really good teams. It’s 12 games.”
The WVU attack has not fired on all cylinders at this time after being held to just 33% of the fire on Saturday with a 77-56 loss against BYU.
WVU shot 48% in its first meeting with Utah, while UTES has a large size advantage with 7-foot-1 center lawson and 6-9 guard Mike Sharavyamtz, while the climbers played mostly in glass and played points with paint.
If it differs the second time, I’ve seen a very few chapters come just by adding chapters to the Eilert story.
“I feel much more comfortable with game management than I did last season.” Ailat said. “The scenarios are very different.”
Eilat differed in that he had to stabilize WVU’s roster over the summer and make his offensive and defense.
In Utah, “All I really do is try and keep doing this.” He said. “We have a lot of plays. (Big 12) Looking at the rankings, there’s a log jam in the middle. We have a lot of things, there’s a lot to prove.”
