Those nineteen reasons would by the 19 players and recruits who were arrested under the Bob Huggins era at Cincinnati. One guy pleaded guilty to choking his girlfriend. One guy was arrested for assaulting police officers. One guy taped his roommate to a chair, burned him with a heated coat hanger, and stabbed him in the leg. But man, that guy could ball.
Anyway, Stewart Mandel makes the case against hiring Bob Huggins. He will win basketball games for you. That’s true. But he recruits exclusively from the same California Penal System that produced Rick Vaughn, his players do not graduate, and he’s a known saucebag.
But, back to the other hand… whoever ends up hiring him might also get OJ Mayo and Bill Walker, two prep studs who kinda sorta vow to go anywhere Huggins ends up.
“It could be a great thing to happen,” Mayo said of going to play for Huggins. “At the same time, we have to see where he ends up, what the school’s fan base is like, see what the fans think about him and make sure everything is great.”
Everything might not be great… there’s likely to be some unhappy voices at whatever institution does end up hiring him. And unhappy voices tend to be louder than happy voices, even if outnumbered. So there’s still some hope for any other program out there that wants Mayo and Walker… two high school superstars who believe they’re NBA-ready and have sworn allegience to a criminal-recruiting boozehound.
Toku
Dear MJD,
Who is Bob Huggins?
Signed,
The Sweet Sixteen
March 23, 2006 at 3:12 am
Mr. Bojangles
Kansas State just took the plunge, will announce his hiring today.
March 23, 2006 at 10:56 am
Rocky Balboa
Huggins, paired with Ron Prince, will put K-State among the sports powerhouses within 3 years. Dont hate.
March 23, 2006 at 11:50 am
rwn3f
he also is the dirtiest coach in the league. I hear he has entire practices dedicated to punching a guy in the balls and not getting caught. what an assbag
March 23, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Envy
Jealousy will get you no where in this world, rwn3f.
March 23, 2006 at 3:13 pm
theotheruw
MJD – where’s the comment for the picture? Something like “I’m about ‘this’ drunk right now.”
March 23, 2006 at 3:54 pm
the mighty mjd
I know I put a comment on that picture… fuck. I wonder what happened to it.
March 23, 2006 at 4:20 pm
Mark
One guy taped his roommate to a chair, burned him with a heated coat hanger, and stabbed him in the leg.
Geez, and I thought my first roommate in college sucked. At least all he did was watch three straight hours of Saved By The Bell everyday.
March 23, 2006 at 4:49 pm
ski
It’s really easy to hate on Huggins but where would a lot of the kids be if they weren’t playing for him? There’s a good chance most of the kids would be dead or in jail, but Huggins went out on a limb to give them a chance at something better.
I’m not excusing the criminal behavior which occured during Huggins tenure, some bad eggs will always be bad eggs, but not every college player will be as clean cut as J.J. Redick.
March 23, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Andy
Uh, didn’t most of them end up in jail at one point or another anyway?
There must be coaches at least as good who do not bring the baggage and negatives Huggins does.
March 24, 2006 at 12:05 am