Posts tagged BobHuggins at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Haley Gentry, public affairs manager at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, said, "Upon exiting the plane, apparently he became dizzy and required medical attention." Gentry said a report of the incident did not say Huggins fainted.

College basketball coaches are a weird bunch. They are control freaks who are media savvy and live in an isolated world of hoopdom. But what if they weren't coaching? What would they do? Who would they be?

The blog CatsandBeer.com attempts to figure that out to hilarious results:

• Bo Ryan, Wisconsin: Evangelist
• Bob Huggins, West Virginia: No Frills Hired Muscle
• Darrin Horn, Western Kentucky: Guidance Counselor
• Roy Williams, North Carolina: Fried Chicken Restaurateur
• Bruce Pearl, Tennessee: Angry TV pitchman
• Ben Howland, UCLA: Landlord
• Tom Izzo, Michigan State: The Chief
• Bill Self, Kansas: Wisecracking plumber
• John Calipari, Memphis: Electrical Engineer
• Rick Barnes, Texas: Struggling farmer
• Jay Wright, Villanova: Man about town
• Bob McKillop, Davidson: Everybody's grandpa
• Sean Miller, Xavier: Man who'd say "bubbie"
• Tony Bennett, Washington State: Excited Mormon
• Trent Johnson, Stanford: The Tree
• Rick Pitino, Louisville: Wiseguy/Scott Baio body double

A very interesting occurance has come to Cincinnati fans: the Xavier Musketeers will meet the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Sweet 16. Normally, that doesn't mean much ... but WVU is now coached by Bob Huggins, the former coach at the U of Cincinnati.

You listen to people around town and the buzz is more about Huggins that the Muskies.

Huggins is a god in the Nati. He took a Bearcat program that was lying in the gutter and vaulted them into a Final Four appearance in 1992. Since then, he made Cincy basketball matter as they transitioned from the Metro Conference to the Great Midwest to Conference USA to, ultimately, the Big East.

Huggs never got to coach his team in the Big East as he was run out of town by Cincinnati's president Nancy Zimpher in 2005. You know how some Indiana fans won't come back after Bobby Knight was run off, the same thing has happened to the Bearcats. There are people that have abandoned the Bearcats program and who are elated at Huggins' ability to take West Virginia to the Sweet 16. Even after he left, he still has endorsement deals in the city.

Tomorrow night will see Bob Huggins' West Virginia team take on the Duke Blue Devils. That means we get those pals Huggs and Mike Krzyzewski on the sidelines against each other.

When asked what he brings to the friendship, Huggs let us in:

"Well he's so dry and boring that he needs somebody to kind of give it a little bit more life. So I try to help him every chance I get. That's just the kind of guy I am."

"We're both Nike [guys]. .. I really like him a lot. He's got a coaching background. His dad was a coach. ... He's done a great job everywhere he's been. ... I was really happy to see him get the opporutnity to coach at his alma mater."

Hurray for Bob Huggins. With West Virginia's 77-54 win over Canisius on Saturday, Huggins reached 600 wins in his head coaching career. From his time in Akron to Cincinnati to Kansas State and now back at his alma mater of West Virginia, Huggins has put together an impressive career. Huggs joins Mike Krzyzewski, Lute Olsen, Jim Calhoun, Jim Boeheim and Bobby Knight as the only active members of the 600-win club (he is currently 6th among actives). All of those have already hit 750.

In the all-time rankings, Huggs ranks 29th. His wins come from:

• 399 wins at Cincinnati
• 97 at Akron
• 71 at Walsh
• 23 at Kansas State
• 10 wins (an counting) at West Virginia

[Big East Commissioner Mike] Tranghese wants the first game between these two schools in Morgantown with year two being the return of Huggs to UC.

[Kansas State Athletic Director Tim] Weiser and [President John] Wefald didn't inherit any surprises with Huggins. They knew they were hiring a master of deception. They knew Huggins would cut corners whenever he could. If they didn't, they didn't do any homework before they hired him.

"Our policy as a department is that we don't grant releases. We invest a lot in recruitment, training, scholarshiping and boarding of our student athletes, and for us to grant releases is something that we would have to be convinced is in the best interest of both the university and the student athlete."

"As of now I'm still signed with Kansas State," Beasley said. "But I don't know what the future holds."

"It's his hometown and I'm pretty sure he loves the town and loves the area. It's a little bit of a shock for me. But life is a shock."

Asked if he wanted to follow Huggins, Beasley replied, "No comment." He added he had yet to speak with Huggins, but said "If my phone rings I'll answer it."

• West Virginia. The prodigal comes home. Huggins was the guy WVU wanted 5 years ago, but Huggins had a good thing at Cinci, was getting plenty of money to stay, he was happy there with plenty of recruiting ties built up, and (I know many will find this hard to believe) he felt some loyalty to the program he helped bring back to national prominence.


• Cincinnati. I have to believe the added bonus of taking the job was the pure revenge factor of being able to go at his old employer at least once every year. He has such a bond that still is strong with the Cinci faithful, that you can bet that first road game to Cinci will result in a lot of cheers for Huggy-bear.


• Pitt. Let me say as a Pitt fan, I am happy to see Beilein gone from WVU because I actually liked and appreciated what he was doing. It's annoying when your rival has a likable coach. Huggins restores a lot of the hate in the Backyard Brawl. Then there is this tidbit. One of Huggins closest friends is in Pittsburgh and happens to operate the top AAU team in the area. The same guy who all those years ago steered Danny Fortson to Huggins. Recruiting will become a nasty, vicious thing between Pitt and WVU. Lots of paranoia begins in 3, 2, 1...


• Louisville. One of the best new rivalries in the Big East started in football with Louisville and WVU. It was looking pretty good in basketball with the double-OT game in the Big East Tournament. Now you've got the basketball coach Louisville fans absolutely hate from his Cinci days. This is just a great way to throw some more gas on this. Two teams with coaches that absolutely demand defense -- but the styles contrast completely.


• Marquette and DePaul. They took years of abuse in C-USA from Cinci and Huggins. You just know the fans now have the urge to want payback. That, or fear.