Bob Huggins

[Kirkendall]

Here's another stat -- heard not read.

25 of the past 37 UC players graduated. That doesn't include players that leave early.

[oldschooler]

Huggins’ UC record of 399-127 and his string of 14 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (third longest in the nation) was not enough to overcome the poor national image the basketball program had acquired under his watch.

I just don`t understand the logic behind this move.

All of you haters can go on and spout off a bunch

of bulls**t about him being a drunk and players

are thugs...blah blah what the f**k ever. But the last time

I checked we was a basketball coach. He is there to teach

and WIN basketball games. He has done that. He hasn`t violated

any NCAA rules.

UC has never been on probation. Huggins brought their program

back from the dead. Hell the reason most people are even UC fans

now is because HE made them a winner. And in a town that didn`t

have ANY winners as far as sports go.

So say whatever you want about this being a great move.

And that you`d rather see good citizens compete than thugs win.

I think you`re full of s**t. They play to win the games.

Huggins done that with "thugs" and has been doing it lately

with the "good citizens". This is a dumbass move and people

that think it will "help" UC anytime soon are dumbasses.

Because they won`t win anytime soon...they won`t be able

to recruit good and they will lose fans.

[oldschooler]

Move already has cost UC top recruit

By Dustin Dow

Enquirer staff writer

Now that Bob Huggins is done as the University of Cincinnati men's basketball coach, potential recruits are beginning to evaluate the stability of a program that is not expected to have clear leadership for at least another seven months.

At least one high-profile recruit backed out of a commitment to Cincinnati Tuesday as word passed through college basketball's recruiting channels that Huggins would soon be out as UC's head coach.

Even O.J. Mayo, a North College Hill junior, said the forced departure of Huggins has knocked UC down a notch on his list.

The administration's move to offer Huggins an opportunity to resign or be fired has a clear impact on the upcoming season, UC's first in the Big East. But the long-term implications of forcing out Huggins could be dire, analysts said, if UC does not act judiciously.

Already, the Bearcats have lost a top-10 center in the class of 2006: Jason Bennett of Jacksonville, Fla.

Bennett recently made up his mind that he was going to attend UC, according to his high school coach, Rex Morgan. A 7-foot-2 center, Bennett chose Cincinnati over Ohio State, Wake Forest and Connecticut, mainly because he believed Huggins would be his coach. Bennett's plans changed Tuesday afternoon.

"They now have no interest in Cincinnati," Morgan said of Bennett and his family. "He was going there because of Huggins. Now, with the way Cincinnati handled everything, I hope no one goes there."

Morgan said Bennett would have signed with Cincinnati in November during the fall signing period, as would another of Cincinnati's oral commitments, Nick Aldridge of South Webster, Ohio.

"Now I've got to look at other schools," Aldridge said.

"The only way I will stay with Cincinnati is if Coach (Andy) Kennedy gets the job or someone else that I like," Aldridge added. "I'm just really upset right now that Coach Huggins is leaving."

Don't be surprised to hear more of those stories, analysts said, until a permanent coach is put in place. With interim head coach Kennedy expected to take over for this season, UC could find the recruiting trail even more difficult to navigate.

"It couldn't be worse if it happened Oct. 15," said The Sporting News national college basketball columnist Mike DeCourcy. "It really damages the recruiting, not only for the 2006 class. It can also put you behind for 2007. Those are two very fruitful years in the state of Ohio."

Moving into the Big East this season enhances the difficulty of handing the program over to an interim coach, not only from an on-court standpoint, but in high school gymnasiums where UC coaches won't be able to tell future prospects who will be the head coach.

"You just killed the program," Hoop Scoop's Clark Francis said. "With an interim coach, you just left the program hanging for a year. Cincinnati's got to be real careful, because they could end up being the doormat of the Big East for a long time."

Most analysts polled by The Enquirer said that if UC president Nancy Zimpher - or whoever hires the next coach - wants Kennedy to be a candidate for the permanent position, she needs to say so as soon as possible. Otherwise, speculation will run rampant.

"I really like Andy Kennedy," said recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons. "He's a great guy, but he's going to have the tag of 'interim coach,' which makes it virtually impossible to recruit. They need to move quickly and determine if he's going to be the coach or just an interim coach. You can't do recruiting on a permanent basis, because kids aren't going to make a commitment if they don't know who they are going to play for."

Incoming freshman Domonic Tilford isn't sure he wants to play for UC, and he's already part of the team.

"He has talked with some of the assistants," said Tilford's coach at Jeffersontown (Ky.) High, Jeff Morrow. "But I think he is kind of in a wait-and-see mode right now, to see exactly how this comes down and see exactly what Cincinnati is going to do in terms of if they're going to release guys or not release guys. He's not set one way or the other. He wants to wait and see."

If recruits are wary about committing to Cincinnati, the obvious solution would be to name a coach sooner than later, though ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas cautioned against a rushed hiring process. Hiring the wrong coach just to alleviate short-term recruiting problems could cause far more damage than taking a little more time and making a personnel choice with the right long-term vision, he said.

With more than seven months until the end of the season, UC has time to evaluate prospective candidates, though the university might not be able to interview anyone until March or April when teams' seasons end. By that time, a replacement for outgoing athletic director Bob Goin is expected to be named and probably would take part in the hiring process.

"The question of who is the Cincinnati basketball coach needs to have a firm resolution immediately following the season," said Scout.com analyst Dave Telep. "It can't be something that drags on."

Getting to that point, however, won't be painless if more players such as Bennett pass on UC.

"Had Jason gone to UC, I think the Bearcats might have gotten two or three more of our players," said Morgan, who coaches at Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville. "Now, I don't think the Cincinnati recruiters will be on our campus anymore."

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...240358/1078/SPT

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

Of course recruits are going to say they are going to leave right now, there is no coach for the program. They just need to hire someone who will instill confidence in the STUDENT athletes to get them to reconsider.

[Jet23]

How does it not tarnish the rep of UC?  I'm not talking about some of their past players that were bad for the program, there have been more positive faces than negative, but of course the negatives always get blown out of proportion.  What I'm talking about is the 14 straight appearances by UC in the NCAA tourney under Huggins.  Hmmm, last time I checked that was a little impressive.

Tell me again why this doesn't hurt UC?

What kind of recruits has Huggins been able to get? Thugs.

How does this harm UC Athletics? Well, for a couple years, they might not make the tourney, and they might be smote by the rest of their conference. In the meanwhile, with any luck, a coach you can respect, who recruits players you can respect, who work as a TEAM will be put into place, and he will rebuild the team.

Bob Huggins is an arrogant drunk who is a blight on our city. He can't coach worth a crap, only getting thugs to play who, while they can get to the NCAA tourney each year, can't get past the first or second round because while he can pick thugs who have good individual games, he can't get anyone to play as a team. A REAL coach wouldn't just get to the big dance, he'd do it without showing up with a condom on and no pants. He wouldn't go out drinking with fellow students and find a way to convince his staff that drinking and driving was just fine, so long as you get away with it.

Bob Huggins has tarnished the reputation of the school, and with him gone, they can get better recruits.

CYA Bob, we can do better.

Once again, you have proven to be a complete misinformed idiot. This whole thing started with the DUI, yet Tuesday Zimpher shared the stage with Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Phillip Cox, who was also convicted of DUI and is a known tax cheat.

UC’s counsel sited the same tired graduation misinformation in a letter to Richard Katz, yet in their media guide, they brag about the academic success of the basketball program.

Zimpher will say anything to reach her agenda, which is not UC 21 by the way. She wishes to garner enough publicity to land her a job with an Ivy League caliber school. In five years, she will be long gone, but her legacy will continue.

The writing was on the wall, I knew Huggins was gone anyway. However, I don’t think the program can overcome the buffoonery displayed the past month. Read the documents exchanged between Richard Katz and UC's counsel and ask yourself one question. Who in their right mind would want the job?

[bengalboomer7]

They just got rid of the face of the program and you guys say C-ya Haters.

Bob Huggins WAS UC basketball, thugs or no thugs. The college is not real wealthy, has lax academic standards, and is an urban enviroment. I say Huggins recruited to the strengths of the school which by the way he has no control over. Guys went to UC because of Bob Huggins, and the only way this can be for the better if the Big O himself begins coaching(which by the way he will not, and if he does, I think it will be a disaster)

14 straight 20 win seasons and 14 straight NCAA appearances and has the third most wins of all coaches in his first 24 years of coaching.You guys that think this is a good move need to come see me, cause I can't find drugs that good

[DesperateDerelict]

Of course recruits are going to say they are going to leave right now, there is no coach for the program. They just need to hire someone who will instill confidence in the STUDENT athletes to get them to reconsider.

Big Thing -

Where do you expect to find a 'high caliber' coach in August? The timing of this entire fiasco reinforces Zimpher's total lack of awareness concerning the real world. Consider:

1. Her intent to change UC's perception to the country- WTF? It's an urban school which has some exceptional colleges (DAA, Engineering, etc), yet 30% of the undergraduates are enrolled in a Community College environment (A&S), which accepts those students who did not excel in high school or had problems on the SAT / ACT. Is she going to close that college?

2. Her intent to have the basketball program reflect the university and the city as a whole - since 2001 Huggins program has graduated a higher percentage of students then the general populace. Also, many of the players have been involved in community service - something atypical of college students these days.

3. She wants the university to reflect higher morals - Where are her morals? If she was going to can Huggins, why wait 'till now (and when he's out of town). There is only one answer - she wanted the season ticket holders to buy into this season BEFORE she axed Huggins, and then make it as difficult for Bobby as possible - perhaps hoping for an emotional outburst?

4. She wants to increase the equity at UC - I don't even need to argue this one . . . Men's Basketball has supported the Athletics Department and the General Fund since 1990, without any appreciable help from anyone else within the athletic department.

I could go on, but I'd rather share what I think her true agenda is:

a) She's an egomaniac, and hates the fact that Huggins, not her, is the face of UC.

She's a control-freak, and considers Huggins to be unmanageable.

c) She's extremely ambitious, and wants to run an ivy-league school.

d) She's a psychopath, and is willing to climb alot of bodies to get 'her' way, which is the only way.

e) She's power-hungry, and wants to repeat UWM and OSU's terrible experiments of having the University president double as the AD.

So, in short, she's an ignorant slut who will destroy years of valiant effort to satisfy her whims. I try to be charitable to people, but the best thing I can hope for her is that she gets busted for a DUI and spends 30 days in a jailcell with a girl named butch.

[Kirkendall]

Did you know graduation rates among Huggin's players was higher than the actual students?!!!

EDIT: Nevermind, DD pointed that out.

[jjakq27]

Will Nancy Zimpher be there as long as Bob Huggins? I doubt it.

Again, five years from now people will regret ever bringing that woman to UC. It is a very sad day indeed.

[Jet23]

Of course recruits are going to say they are going to leave right now, there is no coach for the program.  They just need to hire someone who will instill confidence in the STUDENT athletes to get them to reconsider.

Big Thing -

Where do you expect to find a 'high caliber' coach in August? The timing of this entire fiasco reinforces Zimpher's total lack of awareness concerning the real world. Consider:

1. Her intent to change UC's perception to the country- WTF? It's an urban school which has some exceptional colleges (DAA, Engineering, etc), yet 30% of the undergraduates are enrolled in a Community College environment (A&S), which accepts those students who did not excel in high school or had problems on the SAT / ACT. Is she going to close that college?

2. Her intent to have the basketball program reflect the university and the city as a whole - since 2001 Huggins program has graduated a higher percentage of students then the general populace. Also, many of the players have been involved in community service - something atypical of college students these days.

3. She wants the university to reflect higher morals - Where are her morals? If she was going to can Huggins, why wait 'till now (and when he's out of town). There is only one answer - she wanted the season ticket holders to buy into this season BEFORE she axed Huggins, and then make it as difficult for Bobby as possible - perhaps hoping for an emotional outburst?

4. She wants to increase the equity at UC - I don't even need to argue this one . . . Men's Basketball has supported the Athletics Department and the General Fund since 1990, without any appreciable help from anyone else within the athletic department.

I could go on, but I'd rather share what I think her true agenda is:

a) She's an egomaniac, and hates the fact that Huggins, not her, is the face of UC.

She's a control-freak, and considers Huggins to be unmanageable.

c) She's extremely ambitious, and wants to run an ivy-league school.

d) She's a psychopath, and is willing to climb alot of bodies to get 'her' way, which is the only way.

e) She's power-hungry, and wants to repeat UWM and OSU's terrible experiments of having the University president double as the AD.

So, in short, she's an ignorant slut who will destroy years of valiant effort to satisfy her whims. I try to be charitable to people, but the best thing I can hope for her is that she gets busted for a DUI and spends 30 days in a jailcell with a girl named butch.

Well said man. I'm not falling for the ole banana in the tailpipe trick. This is not about higher learning, this is about that skank and her massive ego. She can't be da man unless she fires da man. And she just did.

[Kirkendall]

This is not about higher learning, this is about that skank and her massive ego. She can't be da man unless she fires da man. And she just did.

It's much much deeper, and complicated, than that and the Bob Huggins firings is only but a fraction of Nancy's questionable firings and hirings.

[DesperateDerelict]

It's much much deeper, and complicated, than that and the Bob Huggins firings is only but a fraction of Nancy's questionable firings and hirings.

Keptin Kirk -

Please explain

[Pangloss]

I'm afraid that if you want to see the future of UC basketball, you may need to look back at UNLV and Arkansas.

[Jet23]

I'm afraid that if you want to see the future of UC basketball, you may need to look back at UNLV and Arkansas.

Add UMass and Rhode Island to that list.

[Tee]

What a B***h......

[Kirkendall]

Did you know graduation rates among Huggin's players was higher than the actual students?!!!

EDIT: Nevermind, DD pointed that out.

More stats:

UC is already doing a better job of attracting merit scholars, with 20 signed and two considering scholarship offers. Between 1996 and 1998, by contrast, UC attracted 25 merit scholars, about six per year.

I'm still trying to find the part where firing Hugs increases the academia in UC. Maybe I'm missing something.

[Marshall Law]

I am new to this board and felt the need to register and post on this topic. I understand that sometimes at work you get a new boss, and sometimes that new boss doesn't like you. What I don't understand is firing a man who has put this school on the map. No one new of UC except people from Big O's era. This school was a stain on the underpants af the METRO CONFERENCE. Huggins brought this team from obscurity into the big time. Based on the talent of UC and UL conference USA was created. These teams left for the Big East...a thoroughbred conference....how do you fire the man that brought you from the dregs of college hoops??? IMO Bob Huggins earned the right to coach this team until he felt it was time to quit. I believe there are a few coaches out there who are untouchable, they get a free pass to an extent to coach their teams until they are ready to give up. Nancy Zinpher has ruined what should have been a crowning moment in UC's progress, opening up the season in the Big East. She has instead bullied her way into the limelight, getting the attention she wants so badly, in order to further her career. She is using UC as stepping stone for her career to the Ivy League. I am angry and I am no longer a UC fan or supporter.

[DesperateDerelict]

Bravo! What he said!

[Kirkendall]

It's much much deeper, and complicated, than that and the Bob Huggins firings is only but a fraction of Nancy's questionable firings and hirings.

Keptin Kirk -

Please explain

Can't. This site has shown it can't handle political-like discussions -- which firing Huggins is completely about.

[oldschooler]

A sad day in Cincinnati

Huggins is out

Bob Huggins has reached a tentative agreement with the University of Cincinnati to terminate his contract.

Huggins, the men’s basketball coach for the past 16 years, didn’t speak to the media Wednesday, but his lawyer, Richard Katz, confirmed a “mutual agreement to terminate the contract.”

“The University of Cincinnati and Bob Huggins reached a tentative mutual agreement in principle to mutually terminate his employment contract,” Katz said. “... It’s not a resignation and it wasn’t a termination without cause.”

Reporters were summoned to a 2:30 p.m. meeting at Katz’ Carew Tower office at which Huggins was expected to answer questions. At 3:35, Katz told reporters that he would make a statement and Huggins would not be made available.

Huggins was seen leaving the building shortly after Katz made his statement. The former UC coach walked across Vine Street to the Westin Hotel and drove off in his Lexus SUV.

Katz said details and language of the agreement are still being worked out and that they “may or may not” be finalized in the next 24 hours.

The university sent out a release that said “Huggins has accepted, in principle, the university’s offer to buy out the remaining term of his contract at a cost of approximately $3 million.”

According to a letter from university counsel Monica Rimai to Katz, Huggins will receive monthly payments at a rate of $700,000 per year through June 30, 2007, for a total payment of $1,283,333.

The university will pay Huggins $630,000 remaining on the tax liability related to an annuity that was provided to Huggins by the university and another $700,000 because “the university agrees that ambiguity remains with respect to whether three years or two years remain on Mr. Huggins’ contract. We understand that two different letters went out in June 2004 - one to you and one to our client, which resulted in some confusion … Consequently, Mr. Huggins will be paid $700,000 for this third year.

Finally, Huggins will enter a separate three-month employment agreement with the university, starting on Sept. 1 of this year. His duties will include “providing information about the current team, identifying and commenting upon potential recruits and documenting his institutional memory of the basketball program during his 16-year coaching tenure. In return, Mr. Huggins will be paid $110,000 a month for a total of $330,000.”

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...240013/1078/SPT

[oldschooler]

Q&A: Board of Trustees Chairman Phil Cox

By Cliff Peale

Enquirer staff writer

The following is from an interview conducted by Enquirer reporter Cliff Peale with University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees Chairman Phil Cox.

Enquirer: Was getting rid of Bob Huggins something Nancy Zimpher was hired to do?

Cox: No.

Enquirer: Was it discussed with her before she was hired?

Cox: No.

Enquirer: How involved was the board of trustees in this decision?

Cox: It was a collaborative decision with the full support of the board. We were being advised and we were collaborating, and we fulfilled our responsibility of governance and oversight. And we weren’t surprised.

Enquirer: Are you surprised at how this has played out and at the public backlash?

Cox: I am surprised that people say they support the university and then they don’t act like it. Basketball is part of the university. Just come clean and say what you are. I support basketball or I support the university, or I support both. … Do you support the basketball program or do you support Bob Huggins? No one is bigger than the whole.

Enquirer: Have you heard from critics of this decision?

Cox: Yes, I have.

Enquirer: Have you heard from people supporting it?

Cox: Yes, I have.

Enquirer: You’ve received a lot of criticism personally about it, particularly with your own DUI. How do you respond to those who say that’s hypocritical?

Cox: I don’t respond to it. It’s seven years ago and it has no basis, nor did it have any basis with Bob Huggins. The circumstances are completely different … It wasn’t the driving force behind this. I don’t know how many times you can say it, and I’ll say it again. We wouldn’t have fired a janitor over it, we wouldn’t have fired a professor over it, and we didn’t fire the basketball coach over it.

Enquirer: Do you think remarks by President Zimpher generalizing about the poor academic performance of UC basketball players are fair? Is it fair to paint those players with one broad brush?

Cox: Nobody is painting people with one broad brush. We’re simply stating facts, that there’s a deficit between what we want and what we got … There’s lot of good kids that have been in the basketball program. That’s obvious.

Enquirer: What about the next coach? If the team goes .500 and doesn’t make the tournament, and he graduates every player and keeps the program clean, is that enough?

Cox: No, we’re expecting people to do better than .500, make the tournament and do those other things. Other schools do it. Duke and Stanford, and Xavier across the street … It’s not like it can’t be done, and we owe it to kids to do these things.

Enquirer: What do you think this will do to the basketball program, given the timing and the program’s identity with coach Huggins?

Cox: We have been talking about this for months. Coach Huggins had as much responsibility for the timing of this as anybody else … We got to this timing because that’s where he led us.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art.../308240015/1078

[Kirkendall]

Wow! Did the Enquirer get its balls cut off?

Shoulda asked Phil: "Do you believe a professional employee of an academic institution, found with drunken driving, should be involved, in an capacity with the school?"

I woulda loved to see Phil's reaction, his response, and the follow up question.

[bengalindian]

Duke, Stanford, Xavier? First of all, how can a program not succeed when it is private and charges its students 40,000 bucks a year?? Stanford is an Ivy-league caliber school that got its academic reputation first and then because of all the money it has began to develop athletics. Xavier? Xavier is not that big of a school nationally and is incomparable to UC. UC is a public school with little funding from alumni and outside sources. A public school that charges less than 10,000 dollars a year for tuition cannot afford to have both excellent academia and athletics, but UC has managed very well (Engineering, Law, Medicine). How can Cox-face compare UC to these schools that have storied histories and are in different environments?

Simply put, he can't. Him dodging answers as to this situation is pathetic. Apparently, they didn't think about the consequences that this would have overall to their athletic AND academic "recruits" will hurt, and UC will be harmed by this.

Hopefully, this isn't true, they find some miraculous coach that keeps UC in the spotlight, but in a positive sense, and I see Nancy on Clifton Ave. and run her over. Whatever.

[Kirkendall]

"Other schools find African-Americans who are good students as well. I hope we can do it, too."

Cox said that to SI.

Isn't that insulting to those players? The ones that had a higher gradation rate than the school's populous?

There was a preconceived notion to remove Huggins. Even after he made good on the university's expectations on him... and my problem is with all this is it was done in the most unethical way.

Draw back? Well, for one, I don’t think you’re going to have eager coaches wanting to come here knowing how the university handled the Huggins deal. It'll take years for the university to recover from their bungling.

Zimpher, Wyler, and Cox are a bunch of "ass-clowns".

[Jet23]

Here's another interesting article from CBS Sportsline that says it all:

Cincinnati president not living in real -- basketball -- world

Aug. 24, 2005

By Gregg Doyel

CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

In Nancy Zimpher's vision, the Cincinnati basketball program is a place where the team competes for a Big East championship, the coach recruits future pediatricians and the players split their time between the court, the library and their volunteer job at the Humane Society.

And you thought a university president was the smartest person on campus.

While Nancy Zimpher works to lift Cincinnati's academic profile, she is ruining the hoops program. (AP) Zimpher is the Cincinnati president who has pushed out Bob Huggins after 16 years, his tenure marked by 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, unflattering off-court incidents and inaccurate attacks on his program's graduation rate.

Zimpher, who came to Cincinnati in 2003 from Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has a vision for her new school: UC 21. It calls for sweeping academic reform and an overall lifting of the school's standards, and image, to new levels. It's a wonderful plan -- no, really -- but it doesn't jibe with the reality of big-time college basketball.

Memo to Zimpher: You have a big-time college basketball program.

Or had.

Give Zimpher credit for wanting the very best for her school, from the English department to the admissions standards to the backup power forward on the basketball team. But deduct points for Zimpher's miscalculation of the atmosphere of college basketball.

Cincinnati is about to enter the Big East, which has been lorded over in recent years by Connecticut and Syracuse.

That's the same Connecticut, by the way, that kicked off Antonio Kellogg this spring after a series of ugly off-court issues. And it's the same Connecticut that currently has no idea whether either of its top two point guards, Marcus Williams or A.J. Price, will play this season after they were named in felony larceny charges involving laptop computers allegedly stolen from members of the UConn women's basketball program.

And that's the same Syracuse, it should be noted, expected to get a verbal commitment Friday from Paul Harris, one of the best NBA prospects in the class of 2006 and a young man who has faced drug charges in the past. Syracuse will give Harris this chance because he made his mistakes as a much younger kid, because he comes across as a likeable, nice guy -- and because he can dunk basketballs like donuts.

Please, UConn and Syracuse fans, don't be angry. This isn't an indictment of Jim Calhoun or Jim Boeheim, or an indictment of the Huskies or the Orange. It's not even an indictment of college basketball. It's just a statement of the facts.

A recent national champion, months after winning that title, had on its roster a center who was kicked off his high school team after being investigated for sexual assault. That team also had a shooting guard who would be investigated for marijuana possession, a point guard cited for underage drinking, a backup point guard who confronted an opposing coach during a game and a backup center accused of beating up his girlfriend. Plus it had (gasp) a transfer from another school.

The national champion in question? Duke, 2001.

It's not an indictment of Duke, either. American life has changed, and college basketball has changed with it. Players come with baggage.

Coaches try to unpack the dirty drawers and replace them with clean, bleached briefs. Sometimes it works. It has worked more often than not at Cincinnati under Huggins.

Nancy Zimpher doesn't understand right now, but she will. She's at Cincinnati, not Columbia. Her basketball program isn't competing with Brown, but with the Syracuse Orange.

Zimpher's ambition and righteousness are impressive, but let's make no mistake about this one point: Bob Huggins isn't gone because he failed to live up to the standards of college basketball. Huggins is gone because he met those standards.

Since Bob Goin arrived in 1997, the image has improved. He has been working within the guidelines of the Witch, but Plaid Lady, Egg Boy (Wyler) and the Tax Cheat still wanted him gone. This is personal, plain and simple.