Perry County Central stand out, Trayten Woods has committed to West Virginia Tech. He announced this morning. 

Didn’t know the school existed, where is school located?

On 3/20/2025 at 12:57 PM, nikeman49 said:

Didn’t know the school existed, where is school located?

Beckley West Virginia. They are really good NAIA program. 

Very solid program.  Congrats young man! 

On 3/20/2025 at 12:57 PM, nikeman49 said:

Didn’t know the school existed, where is school located?

 

58 minutes ago, Mountainfan12 said:

Beckley West Virginia. They are really good NAIA program. 

W. VA. Tech has evolved over the years. At one time I believe the school was in Montgomery WV. It became part on the WVU school network at some point about 20 years ago and moved to Beckley.

Walton graduate Brant Smithers played two years there. He now plays for the Cumberlands where his younger brother is playing baseball.

On 3/25/2025 at 12:51 PM, Voice of Reason said:

 

W. VA. Tech has evolved over the years. At one time I believe the school was in Montgomery WV. It became part on the WVU school network at some point about 20 years ago and moved to Beckley.

I remember watching them play Georgetown College in football 12 or 15 years ago. 

Nice! Congratulations! Rock solid NAIA program and one that I am quite familiar with. There are some hidden gems in basketball all throughout WV (Outside of WVU and Marshall) and WVU Tech is one of them. You have two programs (West Liberty, Fairmont State) that have combined for three appearances in the NCAA Division II championship game over the last decade. It was eventual NBA champion Joe Mazzulla who coached Fairmont State for two seasons and I will mention him and the ties to somebody at WVU Tech later on. With the women's side, Glenville State is just three years removed from a national championshp under Kim Caldwell, who is now the head coach at Tennessee. Bryan Poore at West Virginia State led the transition to Division II, with over 400 wins under his belt and some tournament apperances. Earl Lloyd played there in the 1940's and won a CIAA national championship with an undefeated season, later going on to be a key player with Dolph Schayes, Red Kerr and company as the Syracuse Nationals (Now the Philadelphia 76ers) won an NBA title in 1955. Chuck Cooper played a short time at WV State before going to Duquesne and ended up later playing for Red Auerbach before he won all his championships. Trayten is heading to an area that is highly underrated and tradition-rich in terms of the quality of basketball programs and having announced in that area, I am excited for him.

To talk a little bit about WVU Tech. They were coached for nearly two decades by Bob Williams, who picked up over 400 wins and led the program to a high national ranking almost every year. Williams, along with top notch assistant Bob Lake now coach the postgraduate program at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia and have sent players to college basketball programs at all different levels. Under Williams' watch, Fork Union Military Academy has been competing at a high level and WVU Tech hasn't dropped off since his departure in 2019 when his last team was ranked as high as #3 in the country.

First came James Long, former Bob Huggins player and assistant who kept them in contention for two seasons and then their current head coach, George Wilmore, was once an assistant at Fairmont State, including being a part of their 34-4 team that reached the NCAA Division II Finals in 2017. After that season, Wilmore had to chance to coach with Joe Mazzulla who spent two years there. As to Coach Wilmore's time coaching WVU Tech, the team had 18 wins last year and 16 wins this year. Those numbers aren't bad but he has had to do without at times in that span. This year especially that would have likely been 20+ wins, easily, had Braden Chapman been on the court for the second half of the season. He averages right around 21 points per game and is a great defender, averaging close to 3 steals per game. The style of game Woods has, mirrors Chapman in some aspects and I think he will be a good fit for that program and the style of play that Coach Wilmore has.

Woods is extremely efficient. He has been close, and I mean awful close, to being a 50/40/90 player the past two seasons and has played at Rupp Arena once in that span. He had a fantastic career at Perry County Central and I am sure he will continue that success and will have some great opportunities at WVU Tech. Congratulations, God bless and all the best to the young man.