I heard this last week and was saving it for today as we look ahead to the Tuesday home game vs. West Virginia.
Former WVU coach
Bob Huggins is watching UCF with great interest.
The back story which we all know: This is a pivotal year for
Johnny Dawkins. With one more year remaining on his contract, should UCF underperform in their first Big 12 season, some had speculated prior to the season this could be a potential vacancy.
Of course, UCF is surprising a lot of folks nationally with their 2-3 Big 12 start, which includes wins against Kansas and Texas. If there was a hot seat, I think it's getting cooler. Especially with the administration signing off on Dawkins taking a commitment from
Mikey Williams - a player they figured wouldn't be allowed to enroll until the summer.
A quick Cliff Notes on Bob Huggins:
The longtime head coach at West Virginia (2007-23), Cincinnati (1989-2005), Kansas State (2006-07) and Akron (1984-89) was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022 and is one of the winningest coaches of all time - No. 3 actually.
1. Mike Krzyzewski - 1,202
2. Jim Boeheim - 1,116
3. Bob Huggins - 934
He has been to 24 NCAA Tournaments as a head coach, which includes four Elite Eights and two Final Fours (most recently in 2010 at WVU).
Interestingly, he was a UCF assistant coach in 1983-84, the season before he became a head coach at Akron.
Many figured Huggins, a Morgantown native and WVU graduate, would retire as a Mountaineer but a couple incidents following last season led to his ouster: Huggins used a homophobic slur to describe Xavier fans during a radio interview, then he was arrested for DUI about a month later. His dismissal from Cincinnati was also predicated by a DUI.
Last June, WVU announced Huggins' resignation though Huggins later denied that he did in fact, resign.
Long story short, Huggins was out at WVU and
Josh Eilert is coaching this season on an interim basis.
Back to the present: Huggins wants back in the game and specifically has his eye on the UCF job, even though it's not currently vacant. He's apparently told several people about this, which has started to trickle around into the wider rumor mill.
One of Huggins' former players at Cincinnati is
Terry Nelson, who is the color commentator for Bearcats radio broadcasts. He appeared on a Cincinnati-based podcast about 10 days ago and seemed quite confident that he knew where Huggins would be coaching next season:
"I got a bombshell for you," Nelson said. "Bob Huggins will be coaching again next year."
The host,
Jeff Trennepohl, asked where?
"I can't tell you that," Nelson said. "It's a bombshell that's going to drop. But it's a pretty good program... At the mid to end of the season, I'll tap back in and we'll discuss what I have been hearing from a very, very reliable and close source."
Login to view embedded media
I've been told Nelson was talking about Huggins and UCF. Other people around WVU have been hearing the same.
It's kind of hard to say coaching one season at UCF back in 1983-84 is much of a tie, but Huggins loves the area. He and his wife purchased a condo in New Smyrna Beach in 1995 and I'm told he's been spending a lot of time there. Obviously UCF is now in the Big 12, which would give him the opportunity to coach against Cincinnati and WVU.
To go back to what I said earlier - I think Dawkins is closer to receiving an extension than anything else. I was a little surprised when I first started hearing about the rumors, even more so when I heard the confident podcast comment.
Again, to be clear, I think Huggins was banking on Dawkins and UCF struggling this season and that so far has not happened. I think for right now it's putting the cart before the horse. There's still a long way to go though.
Just something to think about heading into Tuesday's game. I'm also wondering if it's possible Huggins is in the building, since he may be currently up the road in NSB.
n.rivals.com
