James Long Reprising his Role as Head Coach of Best Virginia

James Long will return as the head coach of the West Virginia University men's alumni team Best Virginia in the 2022 TBT this summer as announced by the Final Fourcast Wednesday afternoon. 

Long, a former WVU guard and assistant coach made his debut with the team last summer after former Mountaineer guard Jarrod West had the honor in Best Virginia's TBT debut in 2019.

In four seasons as a Mountaineer, Long appeared in 23 games and graduated from WVU with a bachelor's degree in finance while earning Academic All-Big 12 Men's Basketball First Team and the Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll and Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll. Under the tutelage of Mountaineers head coach and Hall of Famer Bob Huggins he was the video coordinator for two seasons before accepting his first head coach position at West Virginia Tech in 2019.

Long led the Golden Bears to a 23-8 overall record, including a River States Conference Championship, and was named Rivers States Conference Coach of the Year in his first season. He led WVU Tech to a consecutive conference title in 2021, and last season, he guided the program to a 26-6 overall record, an appearance in the River States Conference Championship. 

TBT returns to the Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, WV July 24-27 for the second consecutive year with Best Virginia as the host team, along with Herd That, Marshall University's alumni team.

Three members of Best Virginia have been announced: guard Jaysean Paige, and forward Kevin Jones and John Flowers.