West Virginia University senior guard Erik Stevenson has been around the block a few times. Actually, he's been on one side of the country to the other.
The Lacey, Washington, resident began his college basketball career playing for an Old Yeller, Gregg Marshall, at Wichita State.
After two years there, he decided to go home and play one season at Washington. That didn't turn out well, so he transferred to South Carolina where he played for another Old Yeller, Frank Martin.
But when Martin's South Carolina coaching career experienced a similar demise as Old Yeller's, Stevenson found yet another Old Yeller for whom to play – West Virginia's Bob Huggins.
"Three out of the four coaches I've played for have (been demanding coaches)," Stevenson said recently. "It's not new hearing coaches yell or be tough on us, and in my opinion, that's how you win.
"That's one of the biggest reasons why I came here, because I know Huggs is going to have a level of accountability, and we're going to win games," Stevenson added.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder mentioned team success several times during his 20-minute visit with the West Virginia media earlier this month.
His most pleasing season of college basketball was his sophomore year at Wichita State in 2020 when the Shockers posted a 23-8 record. But the campaign abruptly ended during the conference tournaments because of COVID. The Shockers that year were likely headed to the NCAA Tournament.
Stevenson's most depressing year happened at Washington a year later when the Huskies were just 5-21, causing him to get back into the portal looking for another place to play. He ended up choosing South Carolina, where Martin led the Gamecocks to a Final Four trip in 2017 and had an 18-win season as late as 2020.
South Carolina won 18 games again during Stevenson's one season playing there last year, but Martin was let go shortly after the season. That opened the door for Stevenson to look around once again when the Gamecocks chose Tennessee-Chattanooga's Lamont Paris to lead the program.
Stevenson admits he would have remained at South Carolina had Martin not got bounced.
"It's tiring transferring all the time. It's a long process. It's a lot of paperwork, a lot of moving into new places and getting used to new teammates and new environments," he said. "We were in our dorm across from the facility, and we all got a random text to meet at 2:30. We all looked around and said, 'This can't be good' because you don't have team meetings a week after the season.
"We walked in, the AD was in there and people in suits were in there. It wasn't a good sight. (Martin) wasn't a first- or second-year guy. He was there for 10 years, and that definitely threw a wrench in my plans from being there to finish out my career," he added.
Stevenson does believe it was a blessing for him to be able to find another place to go to play his senior season.
"I didn't jump into the portal immediately because I've been in the portal many times. I had to see who they were going to bring in," he said. When he learned it was Paris, Erik listened to his recruiting pitch before deciding to take a hard look at West Virginia.
"I did my research," Stevenson noted. "This is going to be his first year at a high level, and he's probably going to have success because he's a good coach, but for my last year I wanted to be somewhere where I know I'm going to win, and Huggs has proven that."
Huggins remembered Stevenson when his team faced Wichita State in Mexico back in 2020. The guard poured in a team-high 22 points in a 75-63 loss to the Mountaineers, and he finished the season as the team's second-leading scorer at 11.1 points per game.
Last year, he averaged 11.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest at South Carolina, including tallying a season-high 25 points against Auburn and Wofford.
Entering his final collegiate season at WVU, Stevenson has accumulated 1,187 points, 523 rebounds, 289 assists and 140 steals. All he's missing is the March Madness experience, which he's hoping Huggins can deliver this season.
"I'm a sore loser," he admitted. "I hate losing, and we lost a lot of games when I was (at Washington), and I was miserable, but it taught me a lot.
"When I'm not allowed to express my personality, I don't perform well because I don't feel like I'm involved. It was like that at Washington," he said. "I'm fiery and competitive, and I've got a trigger to me. That's probably good and bad, but it's definitely better than it used to be; I've definitely toned it down."
Stevenson said his overall game has developed since his freshman season at Wichita State and believes there is room for even more growth playing in Huggins' system at WVU.
"One of the biggest things this time was going somewhere where I could develop my game, but also allow me to be me," he said. "I think the player development here is really well executed. Larry (Harrison) has done a great job with it working with the guards. When you have coaches who let you express yourself on the court verbally and with your game that, in itself, is going to help you develop your game because you are allowed to try new things and experiment."
So far, Stevenson has been impressed with the new players Huggins has brought in this year. There are some tough players and guys who are willing to do what it takes to have a successful season. Nobody was complaining about the early morning workouts or the team conditioning sessions during the preseason.
"That's a good recipe for a successful season," Stevenson predicted.
"We've got some old heads on the team that can lead the guys. We might have a young team when you look at classes, but we've got a lot of guys who have played a lot of basketball," he said. "Of the nine guys who transferred in, we don't have nine guys who are saying, 'Oh, I need the ball.' We've got nine guys that want to win. It's a blessing that we've got a bunch of older guys because they know what it takes to win, and not just a bunch of guys who need the ball."
Having now experienced a couple months with West Virginia's Old Yeller, Bob Huggins, Stevenson can compare notes to the other Old Yellers he's played for. He said Marshall's temper tantrums usually happened when his guys forgot plays or gave up easy transition baskets.
Martin's eruptions were watching his guys get beat on the glass and not communicating.
Huggs' trigger point? Having a team full of soft dudes, Stevenson said.
"He doesn't like the soft stuff, and we don't have a lot of soft guys on this team, so it's been smooth so far," he concluded.
Your next opportunity to watch Stevenson and his teammates will be Friday, Oct. 28, when the Mountaineers play host to Bowling Green at the WVU Coliseum in a charity exhibition game benefiting the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund.
West Virginia opens the 2022-23 regular season on Monday, Nov. 7, against Mount St. Mary's at the WVU Coliseum. Season tickets remain on sale and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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