West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg has ties to West Texas, Texas Tech's Krista Gerlich
Texas Tech women's basketball coach Krista Gerlich is quite familiar with West Virginia's Mark Kellogg, so she figured he was a good hire for the Mountaineers.
Gerlich said at Big 12 Media Days in October that Kellogg's teams play "really smart basketball," and she expected him to do a good job at WVU. It didn't take long for that notion to come true.
Kellogg, a Texas native, has the Mountaineers 19-2 overall and ranked 22nd in the country. Riding a six-game winning streak, WVU is one of the hottest teams in the Big 12 and one loss back of first place.
That's perhaps no surprise to Gerlich, whose Lady Raiders will try to slow down the Mountaineers on Tuesday. Kellogg has been successful at every stop, which includes his time following Gerlich at West Texas A&M.
When Gerlich left to coach at UT Arlington, Kellogg took over and guided WT to a national runner-up finish the 2013-14 season. He finished 62-6 in his time with the Buffaloes, which ended with an Elite Eight appearance the following year. Kellogg then went to Stephen F. Austin, where he spent the past eight seasons.
The coaches have squared off three times, with Gerlich's UTA squads holding a 2-1 advantage over Kellogg's bunch at SFA.
The ties don't end there. Tech assistant coach Jordan Vessels played her senior year at WT under Kellogg. He, too, is familiar with the high school girls basketball talent in West Texas.
He put the region up against the likes of Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, the recruiting "hotbeds" now closer to his program.
"I don't know if you can truly appreciate (West Texas basketball) unless you've probably even been out there to see it," Kellogg said at Media Days, "and see the passion and the fundamentals and the skill and the IQ of those kids. But there are great high school basketball coaches in West Texas, I think that's what I learned. And so those kids are very fortunate to have the coaching and the teaching that they get at such a young age."
Krista Gerlich vs. Mark Kellogg
Tuesday will mark the fourth time Gerlich and Kellogg have met as head coaches. Tech (16-7, 5-5 conference) and WVU (19-2, 8-2) face off at 6 p.m. at WVU Coliseum.
Dec. 1, 2015 — UT Arlington 67, Stephen F. Austin 63
Dec. 3, 2016 — Stephen F. Austin 65, UT Arlington 60
March 21, 2019 — UT Arlington 60, Stephen F. Austin 54
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: West Virginia women's basketball coach Mark Kellogg tied to West Texas
