On the day he took the West Virginia job, North Texas barely beat Oklahoma State in the NIT quarterfinals. There was an angst from West Virginia fans who had to wait another week for Hodge to arrive on campus, while also narrowly avoiding the disappointment from Mean Green supporters to the end of a season.

When West Virginia and Ross Hodge agreed to a contract, the 44-year-old coach had a decision to make: leave in the middle of an NIT run or work two jobs for a week to ten days. Hodge chose the latter,

Ross Hodge didn’t leave any doubt when he spoke with two of the men who helped vault his college coaching career forward over the last few days.