RUMOR: Jose Perez Transferring Again?

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — Preface: It’s important to remember that The Voice of Morgantown is different than the rest of the traditional West Virginia in a variety of ways; we’re unrestrained by the limits of the credentialed press, we are unafraid to reveal the truth because we are not controlled by West Virginia University, and, perhaps most notably, we deal in rumors and speculation. This article is in fact a rumor, but there is a ton of smoke surrounding this very situation.

Yesterday, VOM received numerous private messages on social media about Jose Perez potentially being interested in leaving the West Virginia basketball program and transferring. Obviously we looked into this and came to the conclusion that although it could be simply a rumor, that there could perhaps be some mutual interest from Perez and one particular school.

St. John’s.

Steve Masiello, the former head coach at Manhattan, is now an assistant coach at St. John’s. Perez played under Masiello at Manhattan and was very unhappy when Masiello was fired by the school and decided to transfer right before the season started. This is how Perez ended up at West Virginia last year.

Now that Masiello is employed again, the possibility of reuniting isn’t so far-fetched. In fact, Perez, who is from Bronx, New York, could also want to finish out his career at home.

Perez is almost certainly going to be a starter on a West Virginia team that could potentially compete for a national championship, but perhaps the finishing his career at home under his former head coach might be more important to him.

Or it could be simply a rumor.

We reached out to Perez on social media, asking the question, “Any truth at all to the rumors that you are interested in potentially transferring to St. John’s? I’m sure it’s likely just a rumor, but I’ve been messaged multiple times in the last couple of days about it and people are wondering.”

Perez has declined to comment at this time.