Noah Cottrill, flanked by his parents Rick and Leann Cottrill, made it official on Thursday morning as he signed a national letter of intent to play collegiate basketball at WVU. Cottrill is playing his senior season at Logan High School, his third school in as many years. In the back row, from left, LHS assistant principal Jan Hanlon, Logan basketball coach Mark Hatcher and LHS principal Robert Lucas are pictured. Photo/Paul Adkins
Cottrill, one of the top players in the state, raised eyebrows at the end of the summer when he transferred to Logan.
Then on Thursday, Cottrill made it official as he signed a national letter of intent to play collegiately at West Virginia University and coach Bob Huggins.
Cottrill, a 6-foot-2 guard, had been a verbal commitment to WVU for quite some time.
He’s believed to be the fourth ever player at Logan High School to ink with the Mountaineers. Legendary former Logan basketball coach Willie Akers, a Mullens High School graduate, played at WVU in the late 1950s and early 1960s alongside Jerry West.
Cottrill said he’s thrilled to be able to make it official.
“Oh my gosh, I’m shaking,” he said, just moments before he signed on the dotted line. “I’m real excited. It’s a stepping stone and it’s one step closer.”
Cottrill played last season at Beckley prep school Mountain State Academy. His Falcons’ team last year met up with Logan and came away with a 99-67 blowout win over the Cats at the University of Charleston’s Eddie King Gym.
Just last year, Cottrill sent shockwaves across the West Virginia high school sports scene as he transferred from Poca to Mountain State Academy.
Now, Cottrill is getting ready to play for the Wildcats, his third team in as many years.
Logan, like every high school boys’ team from across the state of West Virginia, is scheduled to begin basketball practices on Monday for the new season.
Cottrill scored 19 points and dished out eight assist in the game with Logan last season.
He’s recently been ranked No. 79 in the nation in the Rivals150 Class of 2010 list.
ESPN ranks Cottrill as the 14th-best point guard in his class in the country, while scout.com rates him 11th-best.
Cottrill averaged 25.8 points per game last year at MSA. His freshman year at Poca he poured in 23.8 points a game. In his sophomore year with the Dots he pumped that up to 30.9 points.
Cottrill made statewide and nationwide headlines before his sophomore year at Poca with his early verbal commitment to WVU. He ended up being then new coach Bob Huggins’ first in-state recruit.
This past summer, Cottrill played for the Ohio Basketball Club and led his team to the JamFest Tournament title at Morgantown. He lit up the scoreboard for 32 points in an 86-70 victory over a team from Washington D.C. in the championship game.
Cottrill said he’s looking forward to the season.
The Wildcats are looking for redemption from last year when Logan was bounced from the Class AAA sectional tournament by Cabell Midland, 71-54, at the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse at Huntington.
With Cottrill and 6-2 all-stater Paul Herbert Williamson coming back along with a host of others, including Jordan Canada, Bryce Dalton, Deyonte Coleman and 6-7 Gary Miller, a transfer from Man High School, the Wildcats are stacking up to be an early favorite to win the state championships this season.
Cottrill boldly said the Wildcats will go all the way.
“We’re going to win the state championship. I really got faith that we’re going to win the state championship here at Logan,” he said. “I’m really excited. We’re meshing really well as a team and I’m excited to get started.”
Logan coach Mark Hatcher said it was a big day for the LHS program with Cottrill’s signing.
“This is the first time that I’ve went through signing day on the actual signing day,” he said. “It’s pretty exciting and it’s definitely been an interesting experience. We’re real proud of him.”
Hatcher said Cottrill is fitting in well with his team.
“We expect him to be a leader,” he said. “He’s pretty much the best player that our state has. We hope that he plays like that and makes our players better. We’re looking forward to him bringing in some excitement to us. He’s already done that a lot. His work ethic is really good on the floor. I think that we’ll have a really fun year this year.”
Hatcher said the first day of practice on Monday couldn’t have come any sooner.
“We’re very excited to get it going,” he said. “It seems like it has taken forever this year to get here. We’ve got two hard weeks and then we’ve got a big scrimmage to get ready for against Shelby Valley. They’re one of the top teams in the state of Kentucky.”
Logan plays Nov. 28 against Shelby Valley (Ky.) in the preseason Fast Lane Tip-off Classic at Sheldon Clark High School in Inez, Ky.
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