West Liberty University stayed within its own coaching staff to find its newest men's basketball coach.
WLU announced Tuesday it promoted lead assistant Ben Howlett to head coach, replacing Jim Crutchfield, who recently was named head coach at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.
"This is a special day for me because West Liberty is a special place for me" Howlett said in a university release. "I have the utmost respect for this university and our basketball program. Between playing and coaching, I've spent 11 years on this campus and they've been the best 11 years of my life."
Howlett played guard for Crutchfield on four straight 20-win Hilltopper teams from 2005-09. As a senior, his 23 points per game were the fourth-best average in Division II. He spent the 2009-10 season as a WLU student assistant, was an assistant at Ohio Valley University in 2010-11 and has spent the last six years on Crutchfield's staff at West Liberty.
"After more than a decade playing and coaching under Jim Crutchfield, who better to take the reins of our program than a man who has learned from the best?" said WLU President Stephen Greiner.
Under Crutchfield, West Liberty has become one of the nation's best Division II basketball programs. The Hilltoppers have gone to six straight Division II tournaments, five Sweet 16s, four Elite Eights, two Final Fours and the 2014 national championship game. In the last six seasons, WLU has won nearly 90 percent of its games (184-21). This past season, West Liberty won the Mountain East Conference tournament championship.
"It's a challenge to follow in the footsteps of a legend like Jim Crutchfield but it's also a tremendous opportunity," Howlett said. "I'm not Coach Crutchfield and I won't try to be but we've spent a lot of time together on and off the court over the years and I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned from him, not just about basketball but about life."