Phil Forte

Biography

Phil Forte was hired as an assistant coach on head coach Ross Hodge's first staff at WVU in April 2025. Forte, a native of Flower Mound, Texas, spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at North Texas. Forte has eight seasons of Division I coaching experience. “Phil is one of the best young coaches in the country,” Hodge said. “The work ethic and character that helped him be a great player in the Big 12 has carried into his coaching career. He has a great understanding of how to help our players to get better on and off the floor. We are happy to have Phil and Madison in Morgantown.” This past season at North Texas, the Mean Green won 27 games and advanced to the semifinals of the NIT. The Mean Green ranked third in the country in scoring defense at 60.1 points per game, 1.5 points behind first-place Houston. UNT had the AAC’s second-most efficient offense and second-most efficient defense. UNT’s 27 wins were the second-most single season wins in school history and the 14 league victories were tied for the third-most league wins in school history. UNT won 19 games in his first season in 2023-24 and reached the second round of the NIT. The 10 league wins and .555 league winning percentage were both the best by a first-year UNT men’s basketball staff. Forte recruited some of North Texas’ top performers and helped mentor guard Jason Edwards and Atin Wright to first-team all-conference honors. UNT won 46 games in Forte’s two seasons in Denton. “I’m excited to get to work h