Jay Kuntz has spent nearly all of his adult life in Morgantown. The Wallingford, C.T. native arrived on campus in 2008 thanks to a last-second change of plans.
“Originally I was going to go work at Indiana as an undergrad, but Coach Sampson got fired that off-season. I was fortunate enough to train in high school with Adam Finkelstein (CBS Sports/247 Insider) – he had a connection with Coach Huggins down here.”
Kuntz was a student-manager all four years and earned a graduate assistant position to remain on the staff. He was promoted to a player development role in 2015, but it didn’t take him long to realize he could be more effective in a different capacity.
“I really loved doing the personnel. I always thought I wanted to be on the floor and coach. How can I sit there and tell these young men or parents that I could develop their son or their career when I’ve never played college basketball?”
In 2017, Kuntz was promoted to Assistant to the Head Coach – Bob Huggins’ right hand man. The two developed a mentor-mentee relationship and built a strong bond over the next six seasons.
“I am eternally grateful for Coach Huggs and his entire family – the love and support they’ve given me the entire time I’ve been here. As an 18 year old kid that came down to Morgantown I was learning not only about basketball, but about life. I’m thankful both personally and professionally. I got to work with a Hall of Famer. A lot of the ways I do things now or how I deal with recruits, parents, or anyone, I learned from him.”
Kuntz Gets The Keys
Last June, Huggins promoted Kuntz to Director of Personnel & Recruiting. He was essentially given carte blanche to build a roster. The first step in roster building? Identifying talent.
“I made my own equation of how to grade guys out. One big thing for me is efficiency offensively and defensively. How they grade out is important, especially when you’re bringing in a guy that is going to play impactful minutes. We took two systems that I heavily rely on and combined them. I talked to a person much, much smarter than me in the math world and they came up with an output where I could have those two systems combined. I don’t base everything off of analytics, though. There has to be an eye test and you have to have a feel for it as well.”
Once the grading is finished, Kuntz starts building the recruiting pitch. In today’s portal era, it happens quickly.
“The relationships portal-wise are obviously different than the long-term recruiting of a high school or AAU prospect. Getting them to know us a little bit by selling the program, then hopefully getting them to visit campus. Once you get them on campus, it’s up to all of us to seal the deal.”
Huggins’ decision to let Kuntz build the roster paid off instantly. After missing the NCAA tournament and finishing below .500, the Mountaineers went 19-15 and punched their ticket to the dance. WVU jumped from 66th to 19th in KenPom’s efficiency ratings. Their AdjO rating of 116.9 was 8.3 points higher than the previous year and the third highest ever in Huggins’ tenure. The defense improved by 1.5 points and was the 4th best rating Huggins has ever had.
Building The War Chest
Last year’s results reenergized the fanbase. West Virginia’s NIL collective Country Roads Trust was just getting off the ground and the basketball program was able to capitalize.
“The Country Roads Trust was just getting their feet wet and learning the landscape. The success of last year’s team, bringing back more of an exciting brand of basketball and getting the team back to the NCAA tournament ultimately helped this war chest grow. Stephen Ford and his team did a wonderful job”
It’s no secret that winning games translates to off-court success. Kuntz has been at West Virginia long enough to know that even an inch of progress in the right direction can generate a wave of momentum from the fans.
“Fans don’t go to games just for the experience, they go to see their teams win. This fanbase deserves it more than anybody. They’re as loyal and passionate and caring as any other fanbase and they’ll do anything to support their team – but you better win.”
Hitting The Portal
With a newfound war chest and a proven grading system, Kuntz wasted no time hitting the portal. Just six days after their NCAA tournament ended, he reached out to Arizona transfer Kerr Kriisa.
“Kerr was someone we were very excited about. His recruitment was hard because he’s a household name and he’s a guy that’s had a lot of productivity in a short period of time. He’s a guy that we knew could come in and be a difference maker.”
Kuntz also knew that landing Kriisa would open the floodgates for the rest of the portal. “A lot of guys want to play with a pass-first point guard like him. Guys like him attract others. If you build it they will come, that’s how I felt with Kerr.”
Kriisa committed to West Virginia on April 5 and the Mountaineers officially put the country on notice.
“To start the portal season with a bang like that really kickstarted the trajectory we went on. Who we were going to add and how we were going to add them all coincide with getting Kerr.”
Kriisa was quick to hit the trail for his new team. Kuntz credits him for helping WVU land Syracuse transfer Jesse Edwards.
“Your players are your best recruiters and if you don’t think that or operate in that regard then you’re behind the times. A lot of these kids want to play with one another – they see what happens in the NBA.”
With two major pieces in the fold, Kuntz’s next target was Montana State transfer RaeQuan Battle. The staff leaned heavily on two graduating seniors to make their pitch.
“RaeQuan is a special kid for many different reasons on and off the floor. He had prior relationships with Emmitt Matthews and Erik Stevenson and those two guys were extremely influential in helping him get to know us as people and as a coaching staff.”
Battle, Edwards and Kriisa were all hosted on their visits by Jose Perez. Perez transferred from Manhattan and had to sit out the entire season because of a denied waiver. Kuntz made sure he was an integral part of the recruiting process.
“I would be miffed not to bring up the importance of Jose Perez during this entire process. Jose hosted every one of these visits. He was instrumental in making them feel comfortable while they were in Morgantown. I don’t want it to go unknown the important role he played in this entire off-season.”
Huggins Resigns
West Virginia’s run in the portal came to a screeching halt on June 17. Head coach Bob Huggins was arrested and charged with a DUI. He announced his resignation the next day, leaving the program without its leader for the first time in 16 years.
“As a staff our first priority was making sure the kids were okay. Those kids came to play for coach and there were a lot of mixed emotions. It was a tough situation.”
For Kuntz personally, it was especially difficult.
“Uncertainty. Disappointment without question. Obviously I care about coach a lot. I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity he gave me.”
A week later, Josh Eilert was promoted to interim head coach. Kuntz and Eilert are close and he was happy to see his friend get the job.
“Josh is one of the smartest and most hard-working individuals I’ve ever been around. He’s been a great role model and I’m very excited for a guy who’s been like a big brother to me. I’m going to do everything in my power to help him keep this job.”
The driving force behind the promotion was to keep the roster together, though it didn’t stop everyone from re-entering the transfer portal. Kuntz had to recruit his guys again.
“It was hard. You had to re-recruit on a couple different angles. What helped was they knew Josh already. They trusted him. They knew his family. That’s the thing with Mountaineer basketball, our families are very much involved top to bottom.”
Internal discussions between the players, staff and WVU’s administration made it clear that keeping the entire staff together would go a long way in keeping the roster together.
“A lot of the pieces remained and that definitely played a big role in Josh being able to get these guys back. To say that it was a grueling process would be an understatement.”
Rebuilding
Kerr Kriisa and Jose Perez withdrew their names and returned to West Virginia. Joe Toussaint, James Okonkwo and Mohammed Wague took the opportunity to find new homes, leaving five open spots on the roster.
Kuntz wasted no time going back to his trusted grading process, but most of the portal’s top talent was gone. The staff had to get creative, so they started looking overseas.
“There’s an eight-hour time difference so I’m up until 4am or 5am. The exhaustion level during this time period is like no other.”
The Mountaineers were in contact with a handful of international prospects, but ultimately identified Israel’s Ofri Naveh as a good fit for the program.
In addition to Naveh, they landed Jeremiah Bembry (Florida State), Quinn Slazinksi (Iona/St. John’s), Akok Akok (Georgetown) and Noah Farrakhan (Eastern Michigan).
“Now we have the No. 1 class in one publication and No. 2 in the other. The entire staff put everything they had into this off-season. To go through what we went through and still have it turn out like this a testament to the process overall.”
Looking Ahead
Some experts believe that West Virginia’s roster is better than it’s first iteration. Despite the roster turnover, Kuntz hasn’t changed how he feels about this season’s expectations.
“I might be crazy, but my expectations are the same. We’re waiting on the RaeQuan Battle waiver, he’s obviously a very important piece for us. I believe with him we have one of the best starting fives in our league, probably the country. I have a lot of faith in Coach Eilert and this coaching staff. Coach Eilert is someone that Huggs relied on heavily over the years and now I think it’s his time to shine.”
When asked how he would describe this off-season, Kuntz didn’t mince words.
“World War 3. That’s the best way to put it. As with any tough situation in life you have to try to look for the positives. It was unfortunate what occurred, but you can’t live in the past or live in that moment. You’ve got to fight forward.”
Kuntz’s work in the portal over the last 15 months speaks for itself. He’s quickly become one of most valuable people in the sport and West Virginia will have to fight off suitors left and right to keep him around. With the rollercoaster off-season behind him, Kuntz only has one more standing order from his new boss.
“Coach Eilert is forcing me to take a couple weeks off.”
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