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Frank Giardina: The Mountain State is a cradle of coaches

By By Frank Giardina For the Gazette-Mail

We know all about some of the great college football coaches that have come from our state. Names such as Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher and others are known in football stadiums around the country.

West Virginia is also a cradle of coaches in college basketball. Here are some of the coaches with state ties who have had successful seasons in hoops:

n Dana Altman: The former Marshall coach is now the head coach at Oregon. He is also a former head coach at Kansas State and Creighton.

n Jeff Battle: The former Marshall point guard played in two NCAA tournaments. This year, he coached in the tournament as an assistant with Providence.

n John Beilein: He is the man who revived WVU basketball when he coached in Morgantown. Now the head coach at Michigan, his team won the Big Ten tournament and beat Oklahoma State in the NCAA tournament on Friday.

n Jim Boone: The former Winfield General player is a longtime college coach. He is now the head coach at Division II Delta State in Mississippi and led the Statesmen to a 23-9 record and the second round of the NCAA tournament.

n John Brannen: Another former Marshall player, Brannen coached Northern Kentucky to the NCAA tournament in his first year as the head coach of the Norse.

n Mike D'Antoni: There was not a lot of buzz in the offseason about the Houston Rockets in the NBA's Western Conference, but there is now with the former Marshall guard at the helm. The Rockets are 47-21 and have the third-best record in the league.

n Billy Donovan: Hired by Lee Moon at Marshall, Donovan is considered a future Hall of Famer as a college coach. He is now an NBA coaching star in Oklahoma City. Not many college coaches have made that jump successfully.

n Gregg Marshall: A former Marshall assistant under Greg White, the current head coach at Wichita State is one of the hottest coaches in the country. Every fan base with a coaching opening wants him. He has done an incredible job in Wichita.

n Brett Nelson: The former St. Albans Red Dragon and state player of the year is a former assistant coach at Marshall, UCF, Arkansas and Ball State. He is now an assistant coach at Marquette.

n Darris Nichols: A former WVU point guard, Nichols is considered a rising coaching star. He is now an assistant coach at Florida with Mike White.

n Jon Perry: The former Cabell Midland player is an assistant coach at Navy. It's not easy to win at Navy, but the Middies battled Bucknell for the Patriot League title this year. Navy head coach Ed DeChellis is a former assistant at Salem.

Obviously, there are coaches I have missed, and some of them are right in front of us. Mullens native Danny D'Antoni took Marshall to the Conference USA championship game. Bob Huggins continues to make his annual trip to the NCAA tournament. Former WVU assistant Jerrod Calhoun has Fairmont State No. 1 in the country in NCAA Division II and Clarksburg native Jim Crutchfield had another great year at West Liberty.

Contact Frank Giardina at flg16@hotmail.com.


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