Beilein headlines WVU Hall of Fame 2026 class
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The number of inducted into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame reached 250 on Friday, as the school announced its 36th class.
The class of seven includes both legendary coaches and record-setting athletes, highlighted by former WVU men's basketball coach John Beilein, who guided the Mountaineers to a memorable Elite Eight run in 2005, as well as the 2007 NIT championship.
Bria Holmes, the fourth leading scorer in WVU women's basketball history with 2,001 points, as well as women's soccer stars and former Canadian Olympians Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence will also be inducted.
Longtime former WVU wrestling coach Craig Turnbull, who coached three wrestlers to five national championships during his 35 years with the Mountaineers, is also part of the Class of 2026, as are Dennis Fowlkes (football) and Alex Kasich (men's cross-country and indoor/outdoor track & field).
Induction ceremonies will take place on Oct. 10, prior to the WVU-Arizona football game.
Subhead: John Beilein
Beilein led the Mountaineer men's basketball team to the 2005 NCAA Elite Eight, 2006 NCAA Sweet 16 and 2007 NIT championship from 2003-07.
On April 18, 2002, Beilein was named WVU's 20th head men's basketball coach. Under his direction, the Mountaineers compiled a record of 104-60 and earned four consecutive postseason berths, including two straight Sweet 16 appearances in 2005 and 2006.
In 2005, WVU advanced to the championship game of the Big East tournament and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in 42 years.
After missing out on an NCAA tournament bid in 2007 after 21 regular season wins, the Mountaineers were given a No. 1 seed in the NIT. WVU advanced to the NIT semifinals inside New York's Madison Square Garden, where they used a buzzer-beater against Mississippi State before downing Clemson to win the second NIT crown in program history and first since 1942.
West Virginia finished with 22 victories in 2005-06 and an AP Top 25 ranking. The Mountaineers won two games in the NCAA tournament, marking the first time the school had made consecutive trips to the Sweet 16 since the tournament expanded in 1975. It was just the second time the school advanced to the regionals in consecutive years since the 1959 and 1960 seasons.
Following his stint at West Virginia, Beilein coached at Michigan and led the Wolverines to a pair of national championship game appearances (2013, 2018), while also becoming the winningest coach in school history.
Beilein played college basketball at Wheeling College (now Wheeling University) from 1971-75 and served as team captain his junior season. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from there in 1975 and earned a master’s degree in education from Niagara in 1981.
Beilein was elected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022. Prior to retiring from basketball, he served as the Senior Player Development Advisor for the Detroit Pistons after serving as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019-20.
Subhead: Kadeisha Buchanan
The most decorated athlete in WVU women's soccer history starring from 2013-16, Buchanan ended her Mountaineers career sweeping the sport's major awards.
A three-time semifinalist and two-time finalist, Buchanan became the first Mountaineer to win the prestigious Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy in 2016. She also earned the Honda Cup Award for soccer and was named the espnW and TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Year.
The Brampton, Ontario, native is the only player in program history to earn an All-America honor in each of her seasons in a WVU uniform.
Buchanan led the WVU defense to a program-best 23 wins and 18 shutouts in 2016. WVU advanced to the NCAA College Cup for the first time in program history and finished as the national runner-up. The squad was nationally ranked each week and sat at No. 1, the team's first-ever No. 1 ranking, for eight weeks.
The four-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Buchanan also helped Canada win bronze at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. She signed a professional contract with Olympique Lyonnais in January 2017.
In addition to winning Olympic bronze for Canada in 2016, Buchanan helped her country capture gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She has represented Canada at three FIFA Women's World Cups and three Olympic Games.
Buchanan was a three-time Canada Soccer Player of the Year (2015, 2017, 2020). She has played professionally for Olympique Lyonnais (2017-22) in France and with the Chelsea Football Club (2022-present) in the English Premier League.
Subhead: Dennis Fowlkes
Fowlkes was one of WVU's top tacklers as an inside linebacker during his football career from 1979-82.
Playing for Hall of Fame coaches Don Nehlen and Frank Cignetti Sr., and recruited to WVU by Nick Saban, Fowlkes helped lead WVU to 29 victories, including nine wins in each of his last two seasons. Fowlkes played in two bowl games: a win in the 1981 Peach Bowl over Florida, recording seven tackles and had eight tackles in the 1982 Gator Bowl against Florida State.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Fowlkes finished his career with 459 tackles with 286 of those unassisted. Fowlkes ranks second in school history in solo tackles and third in school history in tackles. He finished with 18 tackles for loss, nine sacks and seven interceptions.
One of Fowlkes' top games was against Virginia Tech in 1980, recording 16 solo tackles, one shy of the school record. He had two sacks against Syracuse in 1982 and recorded 20 tackles in games against Rutgers and Pitt.
Fowlkes is a two-time member of the All-East Team and a member of WVU's all-time team of the 1980s.
Fowlkes played four seasons in the NFL, three with the Minnesota Vikings from 1983-85 and one with the Miami Dolphins in 1987. He played in 43 games with 11 starts during his NFL career. Fowlkes forced four fumbles during the 1985 season with Minnesota.
Subhead: Bria Holmes
Playing from 2013-16, Holmes is one of four women's basketball players in school history to score more than 2,000 career points and was the then-highest WNBA draft pick in school history at the end of her career, selected as the 11th overall selection in the first round by the Atlanta Dream.
A native of New Haven, Conn., Holmes finished with 2,001 points, 483 rebounds, 309 assists, 189 3-pointers, 171 steals and 101 blocks.
Playing for coach Mike Carey, Holmes was a three-time unanimous all-Big 12 first-team selection from 2014-16. She was a two-time Associated Press All-America honorable mention pick and a Senior CLASS Award second-team All-American.
At the conclusion of her Mountaineer career, Holmes ranked in the top 10 in 14 different statistical categories and became the first Mountaineer to score 500 or more points in three consecutive seasons. She averaged 16.8 points as a senior, 18.8 points as a junior and 15.2 points as a sophomore.
Holmes had career highs of 36 points against Seton Hall, 11 rebounds against Kansas State and 10 assists against Marshall. She had three double-doubles and had five 30-point contests. She had the longest WNBA player career by any WVU alum, playing five seasons with Atlanta, Connecticut, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In 136 career games with 32 starts, she averaged 6.5 points. Holmes averaged a season-high 7.8 points with Atlanta in 2017.
Subhead: Alex Kasich
Kasich was one of the top distance runners at WVU during his cross-country and indoor and outdoor track & field career from 1972-76.
In 1975, Kasich earned a 16th-place finish with a time of 29:14.6 at the NCAA Cross-Country Championships to earn All-America honors.
As a junior in 1974, he became the first WVU harrier to go undefeated throughout the regular season, outlegging the field in eight races. Kasich was the USTFF Cross-Country National Champion in 1975.
A native of Hermitage, Pa., Kasich was the WVU cross-country athlete of the year in 1973, 1974 and 1975. In track, he set school records in the indoor 2-mile (8:39.7) and 3-mile (13:35.8) and outdoor 3-mile (13:43.0) and 6-mile (28:32.4).
Kasich was an NCAA finalist in the indoor 3-mile in 1976 and the outdoor 6-mile in 1974 and 1975. He served as a graduate assistant coach in cross-country and track at WVU from 1976-78 before becoming one of the best road racers in the United States and at the international level from 1978-86.
Kasich played a major role in turning distance running from amateur to professional status. He was banned from the New York Marathon in 1981 for openly accepting prize money at the Nike OTC Marathon. Through Nike, an injunction was filed to stop the marathon from occurring. Within a few days, the USA governing body changed course and granted him permission to run the race, in which he finished ninth.
Within a month, the rules were changed to allow competitors to receive prize money payments professionally in all of track and field and road racing.
Subhead: Ashley Lawrence
One of the best midfielders to play women's soccer for WVU, Lawrence earned three All-America honors from 2013-16.
A Toronto native, Lawrence earned her second consecutive National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-America first-team accolade as a senior.
A two-time semifinalist for the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy, Lawrence also helped Canada win bronze at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
In addition to winning Olympic bronze for Canada in 2016, Lawrence helped her country capture gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She has represented Canada at three FIFA Women's World Cups and three Olympic Games.
Lawrence led WVU to a nation- and program-best 23 wins in 2016. WVU advanced to the NCAA College Cup for the first time in program history and finished as the national runner-up. She also led the Mountaineers to a sweep of the Big 12 titles in 2016, their third sweep in four seasons, and WVU won seven Big 12 titles during her career.
A four-time all-Big 12 first-team honoree, Lawrence also was named to the 2016 NCAA College Cup All-Tournament team. She signed a professional contract with Paris Saint-Germain in January 2017.
She won three trophies in Paris and reached the UEFA Women's Champions League final in 2017. She was named Canadian Player of the Year in 2019.
Subhead: Craig Turnbull
The winningest coach in WVU wrestling history, Turnbull built the Mountaineers into one of the strongest and most accomplished programs in the nation during his 35-year tenure from 1979-2014.
Turnbull recorded 287 victories during his illustrious career, ranking in the Top 100 all-time in career victories for college wrestling coaches in all divisions.
Turnbull coached three wrestlers to five national titles: Scott Collins at 142 pounds in 1991, Dean Morrison at 177 pounds in 1994 and Greg Jones at 174 pounds in 2002 and two at 184 pounds in 2004 and 2005.
The Erie, Pa. native coached 166 NCAA national qualifiers and had 18 wrestlers combine for 26 All-America honors. As a team, the Mountaineers finished in the Top 25 at the NCAA Championship 12 times, including a program-best sixth-place finish in 1991.
Turnbull coached most of his career at WVU in the prestigious Eastern Wrestling League, leading the Mountaineers to EWL Tournament titles in 1996, 2002 and 2004 and EWL dual meet titles in 1990, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2005.
He was named EWL Coach of the Year four times (1990, 1998, 2002 and 2004) and coached nine EWL Hall of Fame inductees. He was selected to coach in the prestigious National Wrestling Coaches' Association All-Star Classic in 1992.
Turnbull's appointment as coach of the Mountaineers in 1979 came one season after WVU joined the EWL. Inheriting a team that went 10-26 the two years prior to his arrival, Turnbull did not wait long before guiding WVU to success. During his first season, the team produced a 9-4-2 record, and Mark Cagle became WVU's first wrestling All-American since 1955. Those feats earned Turnbull Division I NCAA Rookie Coach of the Year honors.
Turnbull was a board member of the National Wrestling Coaches Association and was awarded the Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.