Alex Ruoff’s life in basketball has officially come full circle.

The former Mountaineer became a current Mountaineer on Friday shortly after retiring as a player, joining Bob Huggins’s staff at WVU as a graduate assistant. This announcement concludes his 17-year playing career that spanned three continents and six countries.

Ruoff is WVU’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made, having knocked down 261 from 2006-2009. He broke the title that was briefly held by Kevin Pittsnogle, Ruoff’s teammate during his freshman year.

By the end of his career, the Spring Hill, Florida native had scored 1,420 points, making him the 18th-leading scorer in WVU history, and earned an All-Big East honorable mention. He also earned the league’s Sportsmanship Award in 2009.

Ruoff went on to play 13 years of professional basketball, first with Belgium’s Liege Basket in 2009. He played three years in Belgium before competing for two seasons in the NBA D-League, then returned to Belgium for one last season.

Ruoff’s career also took him to Germany, Spain, Finland and Japan.

In between his pro stops, Ruoff found time in the 2021 offseason to compete with Best Virginia at the first-ever West Virginia Regional at The Basketball Tournament.

Now back at WVU, Ruoff is pursuing a master’s degree in sport management.