Weber State Introduces Eric Duft As Men’s Basketball Head Coach

SALT LAKE CITY – Weber State officially introduced Eric Duft as the next head coach of the Wildcats men’s basketball program.

The Wildcats announced Duft, 49, as head coach following Randy Rahe’s retirement on May 16.

Duft, a previous associate head coach under Rahe, was promoted and became Weber State’s 10th head coach in the program’s time in Division I.

The new head coach was officially introduced in a press conference on Thursday, May 19.

“I’m extremely excited and proud to be named the 10th head coach in Weber State history. Weber State has such a great tradition. We’ve had some tremendous coaches and players throughout the history of the program,” Duft said. “I’m just really proud and excited to be a part of that. And humbled and ready to get to work to continue the program and to move it forward.

"We want to be a championship team on the court and a championship team off the court in every area of life and give a great product to the community"

Hear from new Weber State head coach @ericduft!

Full video – https://t.co/QlVlBxDHcG#WeAreWeber pic.twitter.com/IUA70sgQOW

— Weber State MBB 🏀 (@WeberStateMBB) May 19, 2022

Making The Program His Own

Although Duft has coached under Rahe at Weber State for the past 16 years, the new head coach is looking to make his own mark on the Wildcats.

“I’ve had some people reach out to me that when they became head coaches, I think the biggest piece of advice is you have to be yourself,” Duft told KSLSports.com. “I know that’s what he [Randy Rahe] wants me to do here, is to let my personality come through, be real, be authentic.”

Past Coaching Experience

Before coming to Weber State in 2006, Duft grew up, went to school, and started his coaching career in Kansas. He spent time as a head coach in the late 1990s and learned how to connect with people.

“You still learn how to connect with players. You learn how to connect with your administration and media. Those things are valuable,” Duft told KSLSports.com of his coaching experience and its impact on his future. “I’ll take from a lot of people that I’ve been around in the past.”

Thoughts On NIL

Right now, college athletics is being impacted on a large scale by name, image, and likeness deals. NIL is a factor that Rahe thought about before making his decision to retire and will be something Duft will deal with as Weber State’s next head coach.

We want to help our student-athletes in every way that we possibly can and so we’re going to monitor it closely,” Duft told KSLSports.com on how Weber State will utilize NIL moving forward. “We’re going to keep tabs on it and see where it goes. I think teams at our level are kind of trying to just sit back a little bit and judge the climate of where things are going with the bigger schools, and then we’ll just kind of have to see where we fall into that.”

About Eric Duft

“We are excited for coach Duft to begin his tenure as the head coach at Weber State,” Weber State athletic director Tim Crompton said announcing Duft’s promotion. “His high character and passion for the game bode well for building the next phase of success and championships at Weber State.”

Longtime Weber State assistant coach Eric Duft has been named the new head coach of the Wildcats.

Coach Duft becomes the 10th head coach in Weber State’s Division I history.

Let’s go @ericduft!

📰 https://t.co/UCTBSrTbad#WeAreWeber pic.twitter.com/ypHTXUoGoq

— Weber State MBB 🏀 (@WeberStateMBB) May 16, 2022

The Sterling, Kansas native has coached at Weber State since 2006. In 2009, Rahe promoted Duft to associate head coach.

During his time at Weber State, the Wildcats have won the Big Sky Conference five times and have earned three bids to the NCAA Tournament.

Before his arrival in Ogden, Duft graduated from Sterling College and was a junior college coach in his home state.

Duft served as an assistant coach at Hutchinson Junior College, Cowley County Community College, and Central Community College. He also served as Central’s head coach during the 1997-98 season.

He and his wife, Sherri, have four children.

Follow @kyleireland