Robert Edward Huggins (born September 21, 1953), dubbed "Huggy Bear," is an American college basketball coach. He is the head coach of West Virginia Mountaineer men's basketball team. Huggins previously held the position of head coach at Walsh College (1980-1983), University of Akron (1984-1989), University of Cincinnati (1989-2005) and Kansas State University (2006-2007). On April 5, 2007, he accepted an offer to re-train his alma mater, University of West Virginia. After leading Mountaineers to a Sweet 16 appearance, Huggins signed an 11-year contract with the university after the season ended.
One of ten coaches with 800 or more career wins, Huggins has followed 24 NCAA tournaments in total, including 23 in the last 26 seasons. He has led his team to nine Sweet Sixteen appearances, four Elite Eight appearances, and two Final Four appearances (1992 with Cincinnati; 2010 with West Virginia). In March 2018, Huggins had an average of 23 wins per season during his career.
Video Bob Huggins
Biography
Play career
Huggins, who moved to Port Washington, Ohio, with his family, played basketball for his father, Charles, at Indian Valley South High School. As a senior, he helped lead his team into the 26-0 season.
Huggins started college at Ohio University. He returned to his home, West Virginia, after moving from Ohio University after his first season, playing point guard for Mountaineers from 1975 to 1977 under head coach Joedy Gardner. Huggins' high career was 28 points against Virginia Tech, he averaged 13.2 points as a senior, and he achieved 800 career points in three college seasons. Team mate Maurice Robinson said of Huggins as a player, "You always know that he will succeed in whatever he does because he works so hard."
Cutting after a 1977 trial with the NBA Philadelphia 76ers, Huggins subsequently pursued a Master's degree in health administration at his alma mater, West Virginia University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He has previously obtained two undergraduate degrees in education and physical therapy.
Train a career
Initial training career
Huggins launched his coaching career as a graduate assistant in West Virginia under Gardner in 1977. He then spent two years as Eldon Miller's assistant at Ohio State University. Huggins was only 27 years old when he became head coach of college, accepted a position at Walsh University in 1980. In three seasons at Walsh, he compiled a 71-26 record, twice getting NAIA District 22 Coach of the Year. Huggins steered the Walsh team from 1982-83 to a perfect 30-0 regular season record and the final 34-1 mark. After serving as an assistant at the University of Central Florida for the 1983-84 season, Huggins was appointed head coach at the University of Akron where he compiled a 97-46 record and achieved post-season games in three of the five seasons there including the NCAA bargain during the 1985 season -86.
Cincinnati
Cincinnati, despite its rich history, has fallen on hard times. The once-proud program that has been to the 5th Fours Final in a row from 1959-1963 - including a pair of national championships in 1961 and 1962 - has not been to an NCAA tournament since 1977 when Huggins arrived in 1989. After being relegated to NIT his first two years, Huggins will bring the Bearcats to the Final Four in his third season - the first of 14 straight NCAA tournament appearances.
Huggins compiled a record of 399-127 (.759) in 16 years in Cincinnati, making him the most superior coach in terms of wins and percentages in the history of school basketball. Huggins steered Cincinnati to ten regular season conference titles and eight league tournament titles. The Bearcats appeared in post-season play in each of the 16 Huggins seasons. In addition to the above-mentioned Final Four appearances in 1992, they advanced to the Eight Elite from another two-time NCAA tournament, in 1993 and 1996.
Huggins earned Ray Meyer's Award as US Conference Coach of the Year, a record three times (1997-98, 1998-99, and 1999-2000), and is a round choice for C-USA Coach of the Decade. He was selected as national coach this year by ESPN.com in 2001-02. His team won five consecutive conference tournament titles - all four major Midwest Conference titles from 1992 to 1995 and the first tournament of the USA Conference in 1996. He was named the national coach of the year by << The Sporting News last season and national coach of the Basketball Times this year in 1997-1998. He was awarded this year's national coach from Hoop Scoop in 1991-92 and Playboy in 1992-1993.
During this time, the program also gained a reputation for rugged style and low academic achievement. Huggins routinely only pass 30 percent of his players in 16 years, compared to half of non-athletes at UC. Some of his players were also arrested and convicted on criminal charges. The program was placed on probation in 1998 due to lack of institutional control.
During his tenure, Huggins trained three All-Americans-Danny Fortson consensus, Kenyon Martin (consensus player of the year in 1999-2000) and Steve Logan.
He often develops a young and inexperienced team, with as many as three budding beginners, into the championship team. For example, Huggins surprised some of the clever college basketball followers of 1997-98 by directing a team that had only one starter back to a 27-6 record, the regular season of the US Conference and the tournament title, No. 5. 2 at the NCAA and Top-10 tournaments completed in the poll. The team was then disappointed with West Virginia in the tournament. The 2001-02 Huggins team, having no rebates when the season started, booked a 31-4 record, set a school record for victory, made a clean sweep of the regular season's Conference and tournament titles, and was No. No. 1 in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost twice in overtime to the No. 8 seeded UCLA. In 2002-03, Huggins suffered a major heart attack on the last Saturday of September, but was present for the team's first practice two weeks later and coached the Bearcats with the same intensity that has become his trademark. Not surprisingly given the start of a rocky season, the team qualified for the NCAA tournament only as 8 seeds, and was toppled in the first half by Gonzaga.
The 2003-04 season was business as usual for Huggins, who drove the Bearcats to regular season titles and tournaments, and the NCAA tournament place while garnering a 25-7 record. Despite a favorable draw - the team was sent to nearby Columbus for the first two rounds of the tournament - the Bearcats were persecuted by Illinois Illini Illini in the second round, losing by 24 points. The 2004-05 Bearcats recorded 25-8 ledgers, the ninth season in the previous 10 that the Bearcats have won at least 25 games. They only received 7 seeds in the tournament, however, and gave the Elite Eight that was finally a lively Kentucky game participant before falling in the second round at the RCA Dome in nearby Indianapolis.
Resignation
On August 23, 2005, UC President Nancy L. Zimpher gave Huggins an ultimatum: to resign and take a $ 3 million purchase or be transferred outside the athletic department to balance his contract. Had Huggins not reacted in 24 hours, he would have been fired. Huggins had told the press he did not even know about the ultimatum until many journalists called him in Las Vegas, however, some correspondence between UC and Huggins lawyers indicated that not only the parties had negotiated his dismissal, Huggins knew weeks earlier. its termination is potentially imminent. He finally agreed to receive a $ 3 million purchase.
Zimpher said that the Bearcat program under Huggins did not fit his plans to improve UC's academic reputation. However, he has been seriously considering dropping Huggins since he was arrested for driving under the influence in 2004. He finally admitted there was no contest for DUI.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Zimpher was very upset because the news of the arrest broke out on the morning of his first graduation as president of UC, where Coretta Scott King would be the speaker. Huggins did not help his image with Zimpher when an assistant coach, two players and a recruiter were arrested in the spring of 2005.
At that time, the Huggins contract had a rollover clause that added one year each summer. Zimpher revoked the clause on June 11, 2004 after the petition there was no contest, but allowed Huggins to return for the 2004-05 season. On May 11, 2005, he was given the option to leave or complete the last two years remaining on his contract. In a press conference May 16, 2005, Huggins announced that he stayed until his contract expired on 30 June 2007, thus agreeing to the terms initially offered to him by UC.
Huggins was replaced by assistant coach Andy Kennedy.
Kansas State
After spending a year out of the coaching profession, on March 23, 2006, Huggins received head coaching work at Kansas State University, replacing a dismissed Jim Wooldridge. The Wildcats have not been to an NCAA tournament since the 1995-1996 campaign and do not have a better conference record than the 7-9 since the Big 12 Conference was formed in 1996. The three previous Kansas State basketball coaches (Dana Altman, Tom Asbury, and Wooldrige) have been merged for notes 236-232 (.504), while in the same period Huggins went 379-113 (.770) in Cincinnati. Frank Martin also left Cincinnati and joined the Huggins staff at K-State.
Buzz soon
From an introductory press conference, Huggins gained momentum in Manhattan with a quote "Why settle for the 2nd position when the first position is available?" For the first time in the history of the Bramlage Coliseum 12,580 seats, all season ticket packages were sold out because season ticket sales rose from 6,500 in 2005-06 to 12,580 for the inaugural Huggins year in Kansas State and Aggieville district in Manhattan, even temporarily renaming. , with banners and icon sign Varney "Welcome to Huggieville."
Recruit
During his first year at Kansas State, Huggins had no trouble recruiting top players. In fact, Huggins chose his staff at Kansas State to help him recruit some of the best preparation players in America. Before arriving in Kansas State, many knew Huggins could attract college basketball preparation stars. Some of his preparation targets include a top 10 player consensus on O. J. Mayo, Bill Walker, as well as a top 100 recruiting consensus such as Herb Pope, Ramar Smith, and Jason Bennett. While Mayo, Pope, and Smith all ended up at another school, Huggins was able to bring Bennett for the 2006-07 season and Walker - originally scheduled to join the team for the 2007-08 season, successfully graduated from North College High School Hill early to participate in time for the spring semester. Huggins hired Brad Underwood, a graduate from Kansas State 1986, as Director of Basketball Operations. Underwood's appointment is crucial in landing 4-star shooting Blake Young, as she is Young's coach at Daytona Beach Community College. Assistant coach Frank Martin was Huggins' first assistant coach who was hired when he arrived at Kansas State. Martin, a Florida International graduate and assistant under Huggins while he was in Cincinnati, played a key role in the top recruiting landing from Florida. For example, Luis Colon, "advancing from Miami, Florida, 6'10", was persuaded to Kansas State largely as a result of Martin's recruitment efforts. Overall, Huggins' first hiring class at Kansas State included Bennett, Colon, Young, and Jermaine Maybank, senior fifth year of St. Louis. Johns University.
The second Huggins recruiting class is rated better. The appointment of former North Carolina-Charlotte graduate Dalonte Hill is a key factor in the landing of the top 5 players, Michael Beasley, from the Washington, D.C. Beasley, the famous UNC-Charlotte committed where Hill coached before Huggins hired him, diverting his college option to Kansas State as soon as Hill was hired by Huggins. Other recruits in the 2007 class include Walker, Dominique Sutton - a 6'4 "swingman from Durham, North Carolina - Jacob Pullen - a 6'1" point guard from Proviso East High School - and Fred Brown, a 6'2 "shooting guard of West Palm Beach, Florida The 2007 class is so strong that both the recruitment services of rivals.com and scout.com give it the best ratings in the country.
The 2006-07 season
The only Huggins season in Kansas State is seen with cautious optimism from the media and fans. Kansas State have returned 4 of their top 5 scorers including 2 members of the 12th All-Big Team Cartier Martin and Honorable All-Big 12 member David Hoskins. The 2005-06 team has been involved in many close matches, going to 7-9 games determined by 5 points or less during the season. The Wildcats were chosen to finish as high as 5 in Big 12, which showed the confidence of fellow Huggins coaches in his ability. Prior to the season, Kansas State never finished higher than 7th place in the Big 12. The early part of the season started off with a difficult start when the Wildcats embarked on a 4-3 year which included an embarrassing loss to New Mexico Lobos and California Golden Bears by a combined 54 points. Wildcats will benefit from the eligibility of Bill Walker and run six consecutive wins including a tournament win at the Las Vegas Holiday Classic. Wildcats will soon hit another rough patch because they lost three games straight to Xavier, Texas A & amp; M and Texas Tech. What's more destructive is the loss of Bill Walker's new star when he tore his five-minute ACL into a 69-65 loss to Texas A & amp; M. Following Walker's injuries, Martin's seniors Lance Harris and Akeem Wright stepped up their game and led Kansas State to a 7-game winning streak that included victories over Texas Longhorns in Austin which broke the winning record of 22 Texas home games. The 2nd half of the Big 12 play saw the Wildcats go 4-4 including a pair of losses to a rival in his Kansas state Jayhawks. Kansas State ended the Great 12 season in the semi-finals of the Big 12 tournament that lost to Kansas for the third time, but won 66-45 over Texas Tech. Despite the win, the Wildcats lagged behind the NCAA tournament for 11 straight years. Kansas State feels deeply harassed because of the fact it is the first major conference team that did not make the NCAA tournament after winning 20 games overall and 10 games at the conference. The Wildcats chose NIT and lost 1-1 against Vermont and lost to DePaul. Kansas State ended the 23-12 (10-6) season - the biggest victory of the Wildcat team since 1987-1988, the year that left them losing to Kansas Jayhawks in the Eight Elites of the 1988 NCAA Tournament.
West Virginia
season 2007-08
On April 5, 2007, Huggins announced that he had received the position of head coach at his alma mater, West Virginia University. The former former Huggins, Kansas State University, offered to adjust the offer from West Virginia University plus some extra money. The WVU contract has been priced at five million over five years, with a base salary of $ 800,000 in the first year. He has been quoted as saying "There are great teams in the Big East and I am very proud to represent this country and this remarkable University." Coach Huggins replaces John Beilein who is currently head coach of the University of Michigan.
Only nine matches entered the 2007-2008 season, The Mountaineers entered the AP Top 25 poll that took the # 24 rank with a record of 8-1. On December 22, 2007 Huggins reached his 600th triumph as head coach in the game on Canisius.
The Mountaineers ended the year with a 83-74 overtime win over St. John's, then opened the Great East Tournament with a 58-53 win over Providence. In the second half of the tournament, the mountaineers upset the rank of 15 Huskies Connecticut, 78-72. Joe Alexander contributed with 34 points and 7 rebounds high career. The Mountaineers then, however, lost to # 9 Georgetown Hoyas, 55-72, in the semi-finals of the tournament.
The WVU appearance in the Big East tournament drove them to the Western region of the NCAA Tournament as the # 7 seed. The Mountaineers beat Arizona in the first round 75-65 and beat # 2-Seed Duke 73-67 to move to Sweet Sixteen giving Huggins his first appearance Sweet Sixteen since 2001 when he trained in Cincinnati. In the Sweet 16 match against seeded # 3 Xavier, the mountain climbers rose from an 18-point deficit early in the game to tie the 64-64 game and send it into extra-time. However, Xavier Musketeers pulled out a win, 79-75, with two 3-point shots at the last 1:18 of the ballgame. West Virginia finished the season in the top 25 at # 17.
At the end of the season, Huggins signed an 11-year contract extension that will keep him training in West Virginia until the age of 65. The contract will pay Huggins $ 1.5 million a year, compared to the $ 800,000 paid to him in the WVU season.
season 2008-09
On May 18, before the season begins, Huggins completes his recruitment class with the signing of a small star preparation ahead, Devin Ebanks. Prospect # 13-ranked has been signed with Indiana before deciding and sees Memphis, Texas, Rutgers and WVU. Ebanks is the last addition to the new class which includes # 11-power forward Kevin Jones, # 34-power forward Roscoe Davis and # 26-point guard Darryl Bryant.
West Virginia started the 2008-09 season projected to finish 9th in the Great East under Huggins. However, they started the season 4-0, led by senior Alex Ruoff, junior Da'Sean Butler and new student classes highlighted by Devin Ebanks and Darryl Bryant. They lost the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament Championship Tournament to Kentucky 54-43, but then bounced back with two wins to move to 6-1. However, they lost in the final seconds of the game to # 22 Davidson and Stephen Curry at Madison Square Garden, 68-65.
Following the defeat, WVU recorded five consecutive wins; ended in early 2009. This streak included a 76-48 victory over Ohio state # 13 in Columbus, snapping a 14-game 14-match win over the Buckeyes 14 days and handing their biggest defeat at OSU since 1998. However, the streak ended in a 61-55 loss to # 5 Connecticut followed by a 75-53 defeat to Marquette # 15. The Mountaineers bounced back with a three - game winning streak that included a 75-58 win over # 14 Georgetown in DC. However, the streak ended at the defeat of 79-67 to Pittsburgh # 4 in Brawl Backyard. WVU defeats St. John's, but then lost to # 7 Louisville and # 20 Syracuse back-to-back. The Mountaineers ended a successive defeat with an 86-59 win over Providence, but then lost to # 4 Pitt for the second time.
West Virginia followed the defeat to Pitt with a 93-72 victory over # 13 Villanova, displaying the top 43 points performance in Da'Sean Butler's career. The Mountaineers then defeated Notre Dame and Rutgers basketball before losing to Cincinnati 70-59 when Huggins returned to Cincinnati. The Mountaineers bounced back with a winning streak against USF and DePaul, but lost to # 6 Louisville 62-59 in Morgantown while hosting GameDay College.
West Virginia earned a first-round bye at the Great East Tournament, and opened the second round of play with a 74-62 win over Notre Dame. In the quarterfinals, West Virginia beat Pittsburgh # 2 Pittsburgh 74-60, but lost to Syracuse in the 74-69 minute. Syracuse fresh from the heels of six overtime victories against Connecticut, the longest match in Big East history. WVU earned the # 6 seeded at the NCAA tournament and played their first-round match against Dayton # 11 Flyers. The season ended in a 68-60 loss over Flyers.
season 2009-10
West Virginia has a banner year, winning 31 school record matches. WVU won the 76 Classic early season, beating Long Beach State in the quarterfinals, Texas A & amp; M in the semifinals, and Portland in the championship round. The Mountaineers beat seven NCAA Tournament teams throughout the season, including victories outside the Texas A & amp; M and Ohio State mentioned earlier. Huggins' Mountaineers split the annual Browl Backyard with Pitt, with each team winning in their home court. WVU finished the regular season with a 24-6 (13-5) record, good for second in the Big East, behind Syracuse. This was the completion of WVU's highest regular season in their Great Eastern rule. The Mountaineers received a double-bye into the quarter-finals of the Great East Tournament. WVU then beat Cincinnati, Notre Dame in the semifinals, and Georgetown Hoyas in a championship game to win their first Big East Tournament title.
WVU received the # 2 seed (the highest) in the NCAA Tournament in the Eastern Region. The Huggins squad beat No. 15 Morgan State in their First Round match, seeded # 10 Missouri in the second round, and seeded # 11 Washington Huskies in the Sweet 16 round. It set the stage for an Eight Elite game between Mountaineers and # 1 Kentucky Wildcats, trained by old Huggins friend John Calipari. In a violent contest, back and forth, WVU finally survived in a 73-66 victory that sent Mountaineers into their second Final Four in school history.
On April 3, 2010, Duke, the # 1 seed of the South and Mountaineers, faced in the second of four Final matches. The Duke showed full potential in the game, hitting 52.7 percent of his shot (and 52 percent of the three numbers) while shredding 1-3-1 zone zone of West Virginia. Duke led 39-31 at half-time and maintained his red-hot shot in the second half.
After WVU lost the front star of Da'Sean Butler, Wood award finalist, to a devoted knee injury, the decisive game of the game came when Nolan Smith missed the contested layup game, but Kyle Singler and Miles Plumlee joined in to slam back home. rebound to give Duke a 14-point advantage.
The most memorable moments of the match took place in the second half. Huggin's love of his players was full when he was carrying a sad Butler as he lay writhing on the floor in front of a national audience. Huggins calms his stars and shows concern that those who know him regularly see. It is a love for his players who explain their loyalty to Huggins, and oppose his false narratives by opposing fans and media just as he is a "black hat" coach.
Despite losing the Final Four, WVU finished their season with a 31-7 record, and ranked # 3 in the Final Poll Coach, and # 6 in the AP Poll.
2011-12 season
On December 22, 2011, Huggins achieved his 700th career victory by defeating the State of Missouri, making him one of the 4 active coaches in Division I campus basketball to gain more than 700 wins.
season 2014-15
After two disappointing seasons, one saw WVU not making any postseason at all and then losing in the first round of NIT, Huggins and Mountaineer bounced back in 2014-15, making Sweet Sixteen before bowing to Kentucky, which is the # 1 seed whole and unbeaten at the time.
season 2015-16
West Virginia enjoyed a very successful season following their Sweet Sixteen appearance the previous year. The team dropped to 15-1 start, including a 4-0 mark in Big 12 and climbed as high as # 6 in the AP Poll after winning over # 1 Kansas. The Mountaineers got ranked for the last 16 weeks in an AP poll.
The Mountaineers finished runner-up to Jayhawks in Big 12 and made it into the Big 12 Tournament championship tournament before losing to KU.
In the NCAA Tournament, West Virginia was awarded 3 seeds, but his short-lived stay as 14th seed Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks dropped them in the first round.
Recruit success
Huggins' 2007-2008 recruiting class in West Virginia featured Devin Ebanks, Kevin Jones, and Darryl "Truck" Bryant, all of whom contributed to the 2008-2009 season as true freshmen. Scout.com reports that Huggins managed to recruit four of the 100 best players for the 2008-2009 season.
Talent development
He took the Cincinnati squad from 1991-1992 (with two future NBA players but others who failed to reach professional level) to the Final Four and lost to the Michigan squad featuring Fab Five, a very talented five starter starter, four of whom would later be playing in the NBA.
The 2009-2010 WVU Mountaineer Skuat has several players recruited by John Beilein (who has left the coach in Michigan) as well as some junior college transfers and young recruits. Of this squad only Kevin Jones is playing in the NBA while some others have successfully played in Europe or league development. But the group has 31 wins, including the East Tournament Tournament and a trip to the Final Four. In the process they beat several ranking teams including a Kentucky team loaded with future NBA players (some of whom have made the NBA All-Star team).
In his time as WVU coach, Bob Huggins has only a few four-star recruits and has not helped his (despised) athlete achieve an impressive win and a successful season. These players have posted victories over 39 ranked teams, including 14 in the top 10 and three above the # 1 (Poll AP) team. Her West Virginia team has reached Sweet Sixteen four times. The last three teams (2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17) have at least 25 wins each season and have been ranked 53 out of 56 weeks during that time. The only five-star player so far is Devin Ebanks. While Kevin Jones, Jabarie Hinds, Elijah Macon, Devin Williams, and Esa Ahmad are the only four-star recruits (in March 2017). The other four-star recruits for years did not play games for WVU while Jabarie Hinds quit the program after two years. The rest of the Huggins tenure team has been comprised of three or lower star players.
Some athletes who are considered for talent development are as follows.
Joe Alexander is a three star who was recruited and played in a limited time during his first year under coach John Beilein. He started every game in the second year, but only an average of 25 minutes. Under Huggins coach and strength training that Huggins emphasized, Alexander was able to start 34 games and averaged 31.6 minutes, 16.9 points and 6.4 rebounds. Alexander attributes his endurance to the Huggins program. He voted 8 overall in the NBA draft later that year and considers the best athlete on paper.
Nathan Adrian (class of 2017) only recruited three stars but under Huggins supervision, he developed into one of the most formidable defenders of the Big 12. He played a total of 140 games for West Virginia Son's basketball. Despite wounding many of his senior years, he still managed to earn 9.6 points per game and he led the team in rebounds on 6 per game. With his efforts he was selected for team 3 All-Big 12 and All-Big 12 Defensive Team.
Jevon Carter was not recruited by any major program. Under Huggins guidance he has become one of the best players in college basketball. In 2016-2017, he leads the team with a score of 13.5 points per game and also leads the team by stealing 92. He has been crowned as the 12 Big Defensive team for three consecutive years (as of March 2017) and was named into Team 2 All -Big 12. In 2016-2017, he is also crowned Defending Player of the NABC of the Year and Lefty Dreisell Defensive Player of the Year. In his senior year, Carter was once again crowned Defensive of the Year and placed in the All-Defensive Team Big-12. He is only the 3rd player of the big conference basketball team to be placed in the All Defensive Team for four years. Jevon Carter also gets the Second Team Sporting News All-American. And he made the All Big-12 First Team an honor for the second year and was listed as a finalist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, John R. Wooden Award, Senior CLASS Award, and Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Athlete of the Year award.
Also in 2016-2017, Tarik Phillip, transfer Junior College, won the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year award.
Sagaba Konate is not recruited by any major program from high school. In his second year of playing for Bob Huggins he was placed on the All-Big-12 Third Team and the 12 Big All-Defensive Team. 53 blocks set a record for new students and he more than doubled his Sophomore year.
Maps Bob Huggins
Head coaching record
Train a tree
- Frank Martin (South Carolina)
- Mick Cronin (Cincinnati)
- Andy Kennedy (Ole Miss)
- Brad Underwood (Illinois)
- Mike McGrath (University of Chicago)
See also
- List of college male basketball coaches with 600 wins
- List of Final Four NCAA Division I Son performances by coach
References
External links
- West Virginia profile
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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