Eric Duft is out as WSU head coach after four seasons, the university announced Thursday afternoon.

Duft will continue at Weber State, however, in a non-coaching leadership role; WSU has named that role president of basketball operations and development.

WSU coaching staff and players were told of the change earlier Thursday afternoon.

Weber State went 66-65 overall and 38-34 in Big Sky regular-season games over Duft’s four seasons at the helm. Duft has coached at WSU for 20 years; a native of Kansas, he came aboard the staff in Randy Rahe’s first season as head coach in 2006 and was promoted to head coach in May 2022 upon Rahe’s late retirement following his 16th season.

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

WSU says it will immediately open a national search.

In his new role, meanwhile, Weber State says Duft will work with general manager Damian Lillard on roster management, player mentorship, alumni relations and as a liaison between the program and the community, including “external partners.”

“A big part of me coming on as general manager was getting to work closely with coach Duft in building the basketball program back to the top of the Big Sky,” Lillard said in the news release. “I’m excited to still be able to do that with him going forward.”

Duft helped continue WSU’s tradition of punching above its weight in regard to NBA players with Dillon Jones’ first-round selection in the 2024 NBA Draft. He also coached the Wildcats to road wins at Utah State in 2022 and Saint Mary’s in 2023 that are the program’s two best nonconference wins in 30 years.

But the Wildcats finished no higher than third place in four Big Sky regular seasons, finishing fourth or tied for fourth twice and suffering through a ninth-place finish one year ago. Led by landing All-Big Sky First Team guard Tijan Saine Jr., a Division II transfer, WSU bounced back from a 5-13 Big Sky campaign with a 10-8 mark this season.

As this year’s tournament 6-seed, WSU lost 84-79 in its Big Sky tournament opener Monday, a quarterfinal loss to No. 3 Eastern Washington.

“Eric Duft has been a cornerstone of Weber State basketball for two decades,” athletic director Tim Crompton said in a statement. “His loyalty to this university and his deep understanding of our program’s culture are unique. As the landscape of college athletics continues to shift, having Eric’s experience in this capacity is important to our success. We are thrilled to keep him in the Wildcat family.”

“We are grateful for Eric’s dedication to our student-athletes and this institution,” Crompton added.

WSU reached the Big Sky tournament semifinals only once in Duft’s four seasons. The Wildcats have gone 10 years since their last tournament title and now have a nine-year drought since their last appearance in the tournament championship game.

Duft’s current contract, signed in 2025, had a year-by-year termination clause at the discretion of administrators.

With a new head coach on the horizon, bigger programs are likely to take aim at Saine and Viljami Vartiainen, among others, as potential transfer targets. With the caveat that NIL makes everything tentative, WSU was potentially set to return those two and Malek Gomma, Edwin Suarez Jr. and Jace Whiting for the program’s largest senior class in several years.

Players can officially enter their names into the transfer portal from April 7-21.