MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Coastal Carolina University President Michael Benson will be the next president at West Virginia University, sources tell MetroNews reporter Hoppy Kercheval.
“He was one of the 10 finalists and then it got down to three and then after a lot of debate and discuss the Board of Governors focused in on Benson,” Kercheval said.
The WVU BOG met for seven hours behind closed doors on Thursday. It then emerged and voted 15-2 in favor of its top candidate for the job to replace retiring WVU President Gordon Gee.
“At a time when the landscape of higher education is changing we think that this person can best lead West Virginia University, your flagship university forward and serve as its’ 27th president,” BOG Chairman Rick Pill said. “I request a motion to select candidate “A” as WVU president and authorize the board of officers to negotiate and finalize a contractual arrangement with the selected candidate.”
Pill said a contract would be worked on.
Interesting side note on WVU’s next president Michael Benson: He is a native of Utah, as is current president Gordon Gee. However, Gee was not involved in the search or the decision.
— Hoppy Kercheval (@HoppyKercheval) February 21, 2025
The BOG was holding off making the announcements to allow Benson some time to clean up some loose ends at Coastal Carolina, Kercheval said.
Benson has an extensive academic and administrative background.
“He is the current president at Coastal Carolina University, previously he had administrative posts at the University of Utah and he was president of Snow College and also had positions at Southern Utah University and Eastern Kentucky University,” Kercheval said.
The three finalists for the WVU Presidency were House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, Coastal Carolina Michael Benson and UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes, who was the former dean of the WVU business school. The board settled on Benson.
— Hoppy Kercheval (@HoppyKercheval) February 21, 2025
Benson holds degrees from Brigham Young University, where he played basketball, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins and the University of Oxford.
Benson and his wife are parents of five children.
Kercheval said the 10 finalists made up a strong field.
“My understanding from sources is that eight of the 10 finalists were sitting university presidents. That speaks well of WVU and the attractiveness of WVU,” Kercheval said.