Men's Basketball | 7/8/2011 12:00:00 AM

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – West Liberty University head men's basketball coach Jim Crutchfield has announced the hiring of former Hilltopper standout Ben Howlett as his new assistant coach.

Howlett, a 2009 WLU graduate, will replace long-time assistant Eric Bovaird at Crutchfield's side for the 2011-12 season. Bovaird was recently hired as head coach at NCAA Division II Chaminade (Hawaii) University.

“We're very pleased to welcome Ben back to West Liberty,” said Crutchfield, whose Hilltoppers are coming off a 33-1 season which included a No. 1 national ranking, a second consecutive West Virginia Conference title and the school's first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.

“Not only was Ben an outstanding player in our system, he made a very strong impression during the year he spent with us as a student assistant following his playing career. He's a very intelligent and enthusiastic young man who loves the game. I think he has a great future in our profession.”

A native of Marietta, Ohio, Howlett enjoyed a spectacular four-year career (2005-09) in the Hilltopper backcourt. The 6-0 guard ranks No. 11 on West Liberty's career scoring list with 1,663 points and is No. 2 all-time at the school in field goal percentage, blistering the cords at a 58.9 percent clip throughout his career.

Howlett played on four consecutive 20-win teams under Crutchfield, averaging more than 20 points a game each of his final two seasons.

The elusive scorer was a second-team All-WVIAC selection following his junior season after ranking among the league leaders with a 20.1 ppg. scoring average but he saved his best for last.

Howlett was the fourth-leading NCAA Division II scorer in the nation (23.0 ppg.) as a senior during the 2008-09 campaign and also ranked among the top 20 nationally in field-goal percentage at 61.1 percent. He was a first-team All-WVIAC selection and also earned second-team NCAA Division II All-Atlantic Region honors.

The Hilltopper standout remained on campus as a student assistant coach for the 2009-10 season before spending the 2010-11 season as an assistant coach at fellow West Virginia Conference member Ohio Valley University.

“I can't tell you how excited I am about this opportunity,” Howlett said. “I really want to pursue a career in coaching and I can't imagine a better mentor than Coach Crutchfield. He's done a phenomenal job of turning this program around. I was very proud to be part of that turnaround as a player and I'll be working as hard as I can as a coach to help him keep building on that foundation of success.”

West Liberty is scheduled to tip off the 2011-12 season on Nov. 12 at the Wolf Bus Lines Classic, hosted by Shippensburg (Pa.) University.