How Josh Eilert’s coaching history could help Wichita State basketball
In a two-decade career in college basketball, Josh Eilert has worked just about every role imaginable.
He began as a graduate assistant, spent six seasons as a video coordinator, then moved into operations. During his 17 years at West Virginia, Eilert steadily climbed the ladder—rising from the bottom to interim assistant coach, then full-time assistant, and eventually interim head coach for an entire season.
This past year brought another whirlwind: starting as a full-time assistant at Utah and finishing the season as the interim head coach. Through it all, Eilert kept adding to his résumé.
Now, he’s bringing that wide-ranging experience to Wichita State as a new assistant on Paul Mills’ staff.
“I’ve taken on almost every role, I’ve been in every office, I’ve been in those conversations,” Eilert told The Eagle. “All of those opportunities have shaped who I am as a person and they give me better oversight of how everything runs and operates in a program.”
Eilert didn’t have a direct coaching connection to Mills, but the two knew each other in passing from a decade of competing in the Big 12—Eilert as an understudy for Bob Huggins at West Virginia and Mills as a long-time assistant under Scott Drew at Baylor.
Eilert developed a deep admiration for the Drew coaching tree, which has produced head coaches like Texas Tech’s Grant McCasland and Kansas State’s Jerome Tang.
So when a position opened on Wichita State’s staff this summer, Eilert—who had moved on from Utah—jumped at the opportunity when Mills called.
“People rave about his willingness to do the work,” Mills said. “I think that comes from wearing a lot of different hats and seeing a lot of different things. If you’ve worn those different hats, then you understand it and that helps.”
No experience has been more formative for Eilert than his two stints as an interim head coach in extremely challenging circumstances.
At West Virginia, he was promoted to interim head coach for the entire 2023-24 season following Huggins’ resignation after a drunk driving arrest. The Mountaineers struggled to a 9-23 record that season.
Then this past February, Utah turned to Eilert, naming him interim head coach after parting ways with Craig Smith late in the season. Utah went 1-5 under his leadership.
“Both situations were really hard to navigate and unique in their own ways,” Eilert said. “You’re just trying to hold things together, and you learn so much about loyalty, perseverance, and the importance of relationships. Sitting in that head chair, you really figure out what you need from your staff. That was invaluable for me.”
The chance to return home to Kansas was a bonus for Eilert, who grew up three hours away in Osborne. But the real draw was the opportunity to work with Mills.
“You hear people talk in the business (about Mills) having an incredible attention to detail and that suits me perfectly,” Eilert said. “That’s the type of person that I am, especially in terms of game planning. Those details are huge to me as well. So just being around someone who is putting his heart and soul into every detail and having this type of support from the community, this job was very attractive to me. It was refreshing to see how much they care about basketball out here.”
With two new assistant coaches—Eilert and former Shocker standout P.J. Couisnard—and 12 new players, Wichita State is gearing up for a summer full of learning. June workouts at Koch Arena will focus on installing new systems, terminology, and strategies.
As a 6-foot-7 former walk-on at Kansas State, the 44-year-old Eilert still brings a noticeable presence on the court. His aim is to carve out his role and help the program wherever he can.
One coaching lesson he plans to bring with him is a philosophy he learned from Huggins during their long tenure together.
“He was probably one of the best motivators I’ve ever seen,” Eilert said. “He could coach his players hard because he had those relationships where they trusted him. That’s the biggest thing I took from him—this is such a relationship-driven business. If you don’t connect with your players, it’s going to be hard to coach them as hard as you need to in order to compete at the highest level.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2025 at 12:00 AM.
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