West Lauds Huggins Hiring
April 15, 2007 03:09 PM | General
April 15, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Whenever Jerry West gives his endorsement it carries a great deal of weight with West Virginians. Not that Bob Huggins needed West’s endorsement, but it was certainly nice reading those reassuring words from one of basketball’s all-time greats in West Virginia University’s press release announcing Huggins’ hiring.
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Best hire: You can question Bob Huggins' motives and actions and all sorts of things. But it's stupid to question the man as a basketball coach. He gets players and wins with them. So if it's possible to build a national power at West Virginia, Huggins will do it, and quickly. ESPN.com West Virginia: Bob Huggins always has won, so it's hard to debate the hire. In the short term, it will be interesting to see how he coaches players built for Beilein's style but, long term, he should be a big hit for a program that was given a new identity under Beilein but always is looking for national attention. Beilein put them on the map with his style of play, but Huggins will bring constant attention simply because he is on the sideline. He'll win and likely will defuse some of the added attention on himself. Fox Sports.com BEST HIGH-MAJOR HIRE (RUNNER-UP): When John Beilein left for Michigan, it appeared as though the program at West Virginia was going to take a significant hit. Well, there will be changes, but one thing will remain the same — the Mountaineers will still be competitive in the Big East. Bob Huggins returned home to West Virginia after one year at Kansas State and he'll have no problem bringing in talent. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Huggins only adds to the luster of the Big East coaching establishment. The league has three coaches that have won the national championship: Jim Calhoun (twice), Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino. It now has three more who have been to the Final Four: Tom Crean, John Thompson and Huggins. That's a roster of coaching success not many conferences can equal. “It's a win-win-win situation -- for Huggins, for West Virginia and for the Big East.” San Antonio Express-News “Moves by Bob Huggins from Kansas State to West Virginia, Billy Gillispie from Texas A&M to Kentucky and the filling of the Colorado job has changed the face of the Big 12 in terms of national perception. Again.” |
CBSsportsLine.com“I am absolutely thrilled with the announcement of Bob Huggins as WVU’s next basketball coach,” said West. “He is a great coach and a great recruiter. We’re fortunate to have one of our own back to lead the program and WVU fans should be thrilled.”
Bob Huggins first met Jerry West when he was a West Virginia player for Coach Joedy Gardner in the mid-1970s. Gardner and West were WVU teammates in the late 1950s and Gardner often reached out to West during his years coaching the Mountaineers. But West’s relationship with Huggins really didn’t blossom until Huggins became one of college basketball’s youngest head coaches at the University of Akron.
Huggins recalled his first extended conversation with West at the 1984 Final Four.
“This guy puts his long arm around me and I turn around and I see that it was Jerry,” Huggins said. “I had met Jerry when I was here a time or two and we stood and talked for about as long as Jerry could talk before he was being surrounded by people.
“He is one of the most famous athletes in the world and we’re standing and talking and all of the sudden a whole group of people are trying to get at him,” Huggins said. “He said, ‘Here is my ticket number and this is where I’m sitting. Come inside and we’ll talk.’”
Later, Huggins often sought out West for his opinion on career moves. When Huggins was being courted by NBA teams in the 1990s, Huggins always called West for his advice.
“He’s been phenomenal to me,” Huggins said.
Huggins says having a WVU fraternity that includes West, New Jersey Nets president Rod Thorn, Fred Schaus and Hall of Fame broadcaster Hot Rod Hundley is unbelievable.
“It’s hard to explain to be a West Virginia and to go to school and then on top of that to play basketball here,” Huggins said. “Jerry has been unbelievable to me from when I was at the University of Akron the first time I ever met him.”
West’s opinion also weighed heavily on the mind of the man who hired Huggins: WVU Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong. In a recent interview with Metro News radio network, Pastilong admitted that he consulted with West’s at least a dozen times during a three-day period.
“The compliments that Jerry had and the compliments Jerry relayed from Rod Thorn -- we feel those two gentlemen with their association with college and professional basketball were very helpful,” Pastilong said.
Again, not that Huggins needed the endorsement. He is after all just 10 wins shy of 600 for his career. Huggins’ teams have participated in postseason play in 22 of his 25 seasons including 15 trips to the NCAA tournament. To put this into perspective, West Virginia University has made 20 NCAA tournament appearances in its storied history.
Huggins has had only two losing seasons during his coaching career, both times taking over morbid programs in his first season. His very first coaching assignment at NAIA Walsh College in North Canton, Ohio, when he was 27 years old, Huggins went 14-16 before going 23-9 his second year.
His only other losing campaign came in 1985 when his first Akron team went 12-14. A year later, Huggins had the Zips in the NCAA tournament with a 22-8 record. Twenty one times his teams have won at least 20 games and twice he’s coached 30-win teams.
“There are good coaches and there are great coaches – Bob is one of the greats,” West said.
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| West Virginia and NBA great Jerry West: "I am absolutely thrilled with the announcement of Bob Huggins as WVU’s next basketball coach."
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
And now he’s returned home. Huggins recalled a valuable lesson he was taught many years ago when he was a graduate assistant coach at WVU in 1977 – just a year removed from college.
“One of the football coaches came up to me – he was a West Virginian and a great guy – and he put his arm around me and he said, ‘Huggs just remember this: the greatest resource in the state of West Virginia isn’t coal. The greatest resource is its people. We are the greatest people in the world.’ I never forgot that and I’ve always believed that.”
Huggins has coached in Final Fours and NCAA regional tournament games with more than 40,000 fans in attendance, but he admits it will be extremely difficult for him to walk out on the carpet the first time as West Virginia University’s basketball coach without getting emotional.
“I will have a hard time not crying,” he said. “I mean that sincerely. I walked in here (for his press conference) and I had a hard time fighting back tears a little bit. This place has meant so much to me. This state has meant so much to me and the people have meant so much to me in my life.
“I learned so much here,” he continued. “I grew up so much here that for me not to be emotional is probably not realistic.”
Huggins then added, “I’ll probably have a towel so I can hide a little bit so you don’t see how bad it is. I don’t want my players to think I’m soft.
“I’m not soft.”
That is unless it comes to talking about Almost Heaven – the place that has always had a soft spot in Huggins' heart.
“I was thinking what a wonderful thing it would be if you drove through this great state and everybody had a flag,” he said. “Everybody showed their support of this great state and this great University by having a flag hanging out on their porch.
“What a wonderful thing and there isn’t any reason why we can’t do that,” Huggins said.
Flying a West Virginia flag would actually be a great way for West Virginians to show their support of Bob Huggins -- one of our own.
