WVU officials want Huggins
By DAVE POE
West Virginia University officials are doing everything in their power to see that former Mountaineer star and University of Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins replaces Gale Catlett as WVU's head basketball coach.
Sources says WVU has put together an attractive package that would offer Huggins a base salary of $500,000 annually and a total package of $1.2 million per year.
The deal also includes provisions for airplane travel for recruiting trips.
No one is going to talk on the record right now, but it appears WVU really wants Huggins and Huggins is at least interested in what WVU has to say.
A source in the Cincinnati athletic program says, "Bob's head is telling him to stay at Cincinnati. His heart is telling him to go to West Virginia.''
It's not likely Huggins will resolve his internal conflict until his top-seeded Bearcats conclude play in the NCAA Tournament. Until then, Huggins needs to devote his full attention to coaching his team, which has a chance of winning the national championship.
Cincinnati was placed in the West Regional, which is by far the toughest of the four 16-team brackets.
As talented as Cincinnati is, it will have a difficult time qualifying for the Final Four.
So sometime during the next three weeks, Cincinnati's season will end.
When it does, Huggins will have a huge personal decision to make.
As the old Clash song says, "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?''
At this point only Huggins' hairdresser knows for sure. And he - or she - isn't talking.
Family affair: By the way, here's a fact about Huggins which you may not know.
He's not the only coach in the family.
He is the son of Charlie Huggins, who is a legend in Ohio high school coaching circles.
Charlie currently serves as the mentor at Indian Valley South High School.
One of the biggest stars Charlie Huggins ever coached is former Mountaineer assistant coach Butch Haswell.
Haswell is one of two dozen different persons who have been listed as potential successors to Catlett.
Graduation rates: When Nolan Richardson went on a tirade against University of Arkansas fans and media members, it quickly was pointed out the zero graduation rate of his black athletes. A list of other coaches with similar woes contained the name Bob Huggins, although 15 Bearcats who have played under Huggins have gotten their college diplomas.
Plus, the present Cincinnati team had a collective grade point average of 2.9 during the fall quarter at UC.
By DAVE POE
West Virginia University officials are doing everything in their power to see that former Mountaineer star and University of Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins replaces Gale Catlett as WVU's head basketball coach.
Sources says WVU has put together an attractive package that would offer Huggins a base salary of $500,000 annually and a total package of $1.2 million per year.
The deal also includes provisions for airplane travel for recruiting trips.
No one is going to talk on the record right now, but it appears WVU really wants Huggins and Huggins is at least interested in what WVU has to say.
A source in the Cincinnati athletic program says, "Bob's head is telling him to stay at Cincinnati. His heart is telling him to go to West Virginia.''
It's not likely Huggins will resolve his internal conflict until his top-seeded Bearcats conclude play in the NCAA Tournament. Until then, Huggins needs to devote his full attention to coaching his team, which has a chance of winning the national championship.
Cincinnati was placed in the West Regional, which is by far the toughest of the four 16-team brackets.
As talented as Cincinnati is, it will have a difficult time qualifying for the Final Four.
So sometime during the next three weeks, Cincinnati's season will end.
When it does, Huggins will have a huge personal decision to make.
As the old Clash song says, "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?''
At this point only Huggins' hairdresser knows for sure. And he - or she - isn't talking.
Family affair: By the way, here's a fact about Huggins which you may not know.
He's not the only coach in the family.
He is the son of Charlie Huggins, who is a legend in Ohio high school coaching circles.
Charlie currently serves as the mentor at Indian Valley South High School.
One of the biggest stars Charlie Huggins ever coached is former Mountaineer assistant coach Butch Haswell.
Haswell is one of two dozen different persons who have been listed as potential successors to Catlett.
Graduation rates: When Nolan Richardson went on a tirade against University of Arkansas fans and media members, it quickly was pointed out the zero graduation rate of his black athletes. A list of other coaches with similar woes contained the name Bob Huggins, although 15 Bearcats who have played under Huggins have gotten their college diplomas.
Plus, the present Cincinnati team had a collective grade point average of 2.9 during the fall quarter at UC.
