With Long's resignation, Wilmore has his opportunity

Jul. 6—When George Wilmore came to WVU Tech in 2019 to join the staff of newly-hired men's basketball coach James Long, it wasn't just the beginning of a working relationship.

"He's just a great person, not just a basketball coach," Wilmore said. "We just became pretty much brothers."

You get the feeling that's where the relationship will remain, even as their careers take new paths.

With Long's announcement Tuesday that he has resigned to take a new position in North Carolina, Wilmore now has his opportunity to continue what the program has accomplished while leaving his own mark.

Wilmore is officially the new head coach, taking over after eight seasons working as an assistant. Before coming to Beckley, Wilmore spent five seasons at Fairmont State, coaching under Jerrod Calhoun and Joe Mazzulla.

"It means everything," Wilmore said while taking a stroll in his hometown of Great Falls, S.C. "I moved to West Virginia in 2014 to pursue this great opportunity. I thought I knew a lot about basketball, but just seeing Jerrod Calhoun, who gave me a chance to be a graduate assistant, seeing Joe Mazzulla, seeing Paul Molinari, seeing how they ran a first-class program, it meant a lot to me. I soaked everything in."

There was certainly much to learn from.

Wilmore, 33, was in his third season with Calhoun when Fairmont State played for a Division II national championship in 2016-2017. The Falcons went 34-3 and won their first regular season conference championship in 21 years and were ranked in the top five in the nation the final four months of the season.

Two days after falling to Northwest Missouri State in the title game, Calhoun announced he was resigning to take over as the head coach at Youngstown State, a position he still holds today.

Fairmont State brought in former West Virginia University player Joe Mazzulla to replace Calhoun.

Mazzulla had actually been on staff under Calhoun with Wilmore, who spent his first two seasons as a graduate assistant. When Mazzulla left in 2016 to be an assistant with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA G League, Wilmore was able to take Mazzulla's spot.

When Mazzulla came back to take over for Calhoun, Wilmore stayed and was elevated to Mazzulla's top assistant.

"Jerrod winds up going to YSU and I needed that coaching experience, I needed that recruiting experience, because as a GA I was recruiting but I really wasn't on that forefront," Wilmore said. "So I decided to stay with Joe. He was kind of my coaching mentor, and I knew that I was going to have the opportunity to actually learn all the recruiting, do more skill work. It was probably the best decision for me, as a coach, because I got all the on-the-floor coaching."

Wilmore was responsible for defense and most scouting reports.

After two seasons, Mazzulla wound up being named an assistant for the Boston Celtics and is one of the NBA's top up-and-coming young assistant coaches.

Unfortunately, it ended up being the end of the road for Wilmore at Fairmont State, but his coaching career was set to continue.

Long was hired to replace Bob Williams, who resigned after 16 seasons in early summer 2019 on the heels one of Tech's most successful seasons ever. Long continued that success, posting a 63-21 record over his three seasons and leading the Golden Bears to a River States Conference regular season championship and a tournament title. His teams went a combined 35-5 in conference play.

The next step for Long will be as the COO for Court XIV and general manager of The Carolina Factory in Cornelius, N.C. Court XIV is a basketball training facility focused on the development of the top high school basketball players around.

In an open letter announcing his decision, Long expressed his appreciation of several people, including WVU Tech President Carolyn Long and Athletic Director Kenny Howell.

"I was lucky enough to be surrounded by the most supportive, hard-working people every day. We accomplished so many great things together through immense adversity. We all grew together. ... You guys (Long and Howell) took a chance on a 26-year-old and changed my life forever. I hope that you all feel that I did the best I could every day on campus. I truly believe I could never work for a better AD and President. Nothing but constant support my entire time here. I am beyond grateful for both of you."

Wilmore will always be thankful that his time with Tech started when it did.

"I never discredit God's timing," he said. "I became the assistant for James and ... it was probably the best three years of my life. Not even coaching. Just having that lifelong friendship with him and (assistant coach) Payton Sturm. This is three years that I know forever I will cherish."

Long will remain as head coach of Best Virginia, the WVU alumni team getting set for The Basketball Tournament later this month. Ironically, he will be coaching against the Golden Bears in an exhibition game July 16 at Fairmont State.

Moving forward with the Tech program officially his, Wilmore certainly understands the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. That doesn't mean he won't be making his own impression.

"It's just all about clarity. We talk about that every single day," Wilmore said. "Just making sure every one of these guys know where they stand and just stay consistent with the message. ... It's making sure they have reassurance. They've seen it work a certain way for three years, and I told them I would be an idiot to come in and try to change up everything. Because, for one, I helped build this culture. We have a culture that I will put up against a lot of the high major Division I cultures. We have great people in our program and I would be an idiot to try to come in and change everything.

"Obviously, there's going to be things that I want to tweak and make mine. But as far as the culture that we built — me, coach Long and coach Sturm, coach Corey Acord, coach (A.J.) Conny, all of us, we helped build this culture. I'm not going to do anything to compromise what we've built thus far."

Wilmore and Long forged a lasting friendship. They were roommates for Long's entire tenure, and Wilmore helped him move to his new residence in the Charlotte area.

"We're definitely going to miss him," Wilmore said. "We lived together for three years. Just having that bond, seeing his growth as a coach and seeing his growth as a person, just being around his fiancée Sharon, they are great people. He's going to do some great things."

Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5