West Virginia Introduces Mark Kellogg as Head Coach
It’s a special day for Mountaineers Nation. In a Wednesday ceremony at West Virginia Coliseum, Mark Kellogg was officially introduced as the program’s newest head coach.
“I was always impressed with how he’s went into a variety of places and elevated programs,” said West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker, via Gold and Blue Nation reporter Anjelica Trinone. “Our young ladies deserve a coach who is going to be here and invest in them that way.”
Kellogg laid out his mission pretty simply along those lines.
“We will work tirelessly every day to make you all proud of what we do,” Kellogg said. “With recruiting, it starts locally, then you go regionally, then nationally, maybe even internationally. We want high character in our program.”
The Mountaineers’ coaching search finally came to an end on Monday afternoon in favor of Kellogg. With the announcement of Kellogg coming to Morgantown, he becomes the seventh women’s basketball head coach in the school’s history.
Kellogg is the sixth-winningest active Division I women’s basketball coach in the country, with a career-winning percentage of .788. He has spent the last eight seasons with Stephen F. Austin where he compiled a 195-55 record which included seven consecutive seasons of 23 wins or more per the university’s website.
He also served stints at West Texas A&M, Northwest Missouri State and Fort Lewis College. During his time at West Texas A&M, Kellogg earned a 62-6 record, leading the Lady Buffs to a Division II runner-up finish in 2014 as well as an Elite Eight appearance in 2015. His teams won the regular season and tournament championship of the Lone Star Conference in both seasons and finished No. 2 and No. 6 in the final WBCA national rankings, respectively.
Kellogg spent one year at Northwest Missouri State before moving up to West Texas A&M. And in his time with the Bearcats, he increased the program’s women’s basketball win total by nine games from the previous season.
Kellogg got his start at Division II Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., and in his seven seasons, he guided the Skyhawks to five straight NCAA tournament appearances and won the first postseason game in the program’s history. As everyone in the Big 12 will come to learn, Kellogg’s winning pedigree followed him everywhere, including Fort Lewis where he compiled a 173-46 record and won four conference championships, with a Sweet 16 appearance in 2009 and a Division II runner-up finish in 2010.
The Mountaineers have hired one of the best names on the market in Kellogg, and even though the season is still months away, fans have a major reason to get energized. Wednesday only reinforced that.
