WVU Has Found its Next University President

The next president of West Virginia University will be Michael Benson, the current president of Coastal Carolina, a source tells Hoppy Kercheval. An official announcement by WVU is expected to happen next week.

Kercheval says the board decided on Benson over a final group that also included House Speaker Roger Hanshaw and UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes.

West Virginia University’s next president is Coastal Carolina president Michael Benson, a source tells @HoppyKercheval.

His X account is @MichaelTBenson.

— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) February 21, 2025

WVU has ramped up its messages to students, faculty and alumni lately to hint that the school is nearing a decision on its next president to replace the retiring Gordon Gee.

Benson, 60, has been the president of Coastal Carolina since 2021. He’s a native of Utah and a graduate of BYU, a fellow Big 12 athletic program. Benson also has a degree from Notre Dame.

Below includes background information on Benson from Coastal Carolina University’s website:

Michael T. Benson is president and professor of history at Coastal Carolina University. His previous administrative posts include special assistant to the president and secretary to the University of Utah, and president of Snow College (2001-2006), Southern Utah University (2007-2013), and Eastern Kentucky University (2013-2020). He has held faculty appointments at the University of Utah, the University of Notre Dame, and Johns Hopkins University and has taught at each institution where he served as president.

Michael earned his doctorate in modern history from the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) where he was a Rotary Foundation Scholar and recipient of the Oxford Overseas Graduate Fellowship. His books include Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel (Praeger, 1997) and College for the Commonwealth: A Case of Higher Education in American Democracy (with Hal Boyd, University Press of Kentucky, 2017). His latest book, Gilman at Hopkins: The Birth of the Modern American Research University, will be released in 2022 by Johns Hopkins University Press.