University of Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins has been informed that he needs to resign by 2PM today or be fired.
Huggins is the winningest coach in UC history.
He is a drunk driver.
His recruits are a bunch of thugs who have been raping and pillaging the countryside...
The basketball program reflects on the university. And that reflection has been pretty poor as of late.
I don't really care for the university president who is taking this action, but she is in the right.
Flame away in the comments, Huggy Bear supporters...
12:45PM Update
YEAH! What he said.Mark's Remarks
I choose to flame away here.
Let's start with Matt's wild hyperbole about his recruits being a bunch of thugs who have been "raping and pillaging the countryside." A very broad, undefined, and simplistic generalization. If I were a certain poster on here, I think I would say, sounds like a bleeping liberal. There have been recruits with checkered pasts, to be sure. There was Art Long, who punched a police horse, and was THROWN OFF THE TEAM. There was Dontonio Wingfield, who was involved in illicit affairs, he was kicked off the team and went to the NBA. There was the player this year who brought a gun to campus and WAS KICKED OFF THE TEAM. Out of the hundred or so players Huggins has had in the 16 years he has been here, no more than maybe 10 have actually gotten in trouble with the law while students.
Do most of the young men he recruits have problems? Yes. Why is that? Well, let's look at the issue. You are a blue chip, solid citizen Rhodes scholar with basketball talent. Where do you go? To the beautiful Chapel Hill campus of the U. of North Carolina, to Duke, also in beautiful NC, to Stanford, with its beautiful campus? Yes. The type of student/athletes President Zimpher is looking for will not choose UC. They will have gone to Duke, Wake Forest, etc. UC is in the inner city, spread out across many miles in the city. Huggins has to recruit who he thinks can win him games. Also, he cannot be around these boys 24/7. Some of it hsa to be the individual's responsibility.
Mr. Huggins has turned many of these young men into solid citizens. Take Terry Nelson, who came from the inner city out west to play for Huggins. He is now a preacher and evangelist in the area. Take Anthony Buford, who is now an analyst for Fox 19 Sports. Take Herb Jones, Keith Gregor, Bobby Brannen, and many others. Now, who are they, Matt and others will say. These were many of the players Huggins inspired to leave problems behind and become solid citizens. However, the ESPNs of the world, who love to highlight Duke and NC, love to trash blue collar cities and universities like UC. So, they only report the scandals. They never report the many good things that Mr. Huggins and his program have done for the University.
Also, Matt brings up the drunk driving charge. OK, I have no excuse for that. I have nothing to say other than Mr. Huggins owned up to it. Thank God no one was hurt. He vowed to change his life, and all indications are that he had. If President Zimpher wanted to axe him, why not do it then? However, she chose to give him another chance because she realized Huggins was the reason that UC was invited to join the Big East, and she wanted to wait until the move was official, then she could dump him.
Huggins has not had a player kill another player (the noted and well regarded institution of Baylor had that happen with Dotson and Dennehy), he has not vowed to kill another coach (John Cheney of Temple, who still has a job, even after this season when he said Ohio deserved to have people unemployed because they voted for Bush), has not choked another player (Bob Knight, who moved from Indiana to Texas Tech), has not lied about his resume (the former Notre Dame coach who is now a Defensive Coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings).
He went out and got the best players available to bring butts in seats, to bring money to the university, and to attempt to change the lives of many in the inner city that he recruited. Was he always successful? No. However, Mr. Huggins remained loyal to the University. He had ample chances to leave for the pros or to other schools, but he chose to stay here. Why, I have no idea, especially given the stabbing in the back by outgoing athletic director Bob Goin, who showed no class and no cahones in his buttkissing "time for change" talk with Nancy.
I wish Coach Huggins the very best. The three or four times I talked to him, he was always a gentleman, and always was gracious. He loved this town. He loved this university. It is a shame that he was cast out because the new President wanted to be the biggest name on campus. Well, she has her wish. I hope it she relishes it.
8/25 Update: Matt Responds to Mark
...because, of course, college is all about athletics.I've said before, and I'll say it again, Zimpher appears to be an idiot. But Huggins and his program has been a bit out of control as of late...and she has the responsibility to act. Do I think everything she has done, including this, is all for the best of the university? Probably not. I just don't think Huggins was the knight in shining armor that his adoring fans have made him out to be...
