By Trevor Freeman
I think it was Bobby Knight that once remarked 20,000 people don’t pay to watch somebody doing chemistry experiments.
That in a nutshell is why Cincinnati’s President Nancy Zimpher is making the boldest move by an NCAA Administrator since Myles Brand ousted General Robert Montgomery Knight. Her ultimatum to Bob Huggins and reasoning for his dismissal leads her down one of only two roads. And the second one ain’t pretty.
Nancy Zimpher dismissed Bob Huggins because she felt that the Cincinnati hoops program which was marked by multiple arrests, historical academic woes, and an overall outlaw reputation did not fit into her new sweeping academic plans. While she could be right in terms of overall goals for the school, she may fall on the sword because of what will happen with the hoops program.
Bob Huggins won basketball games. It is as simple as that. 399-127, 14 NCAA Tournaments, and a Final Four. Huggins brought the pride back to Cincinnati basketball and made it the school’s signature sport. This school needed basketball to be there as they enter what is going to be the most rugged basketball conference in America. The new Big East is going to be daunting for years to come with Louisville, Marquette, and Cincinnati joining up. Without Huggins, you have to wonder if the Bearcats will be able to compete. If Cincinnati starts missing NCAA Tournaments and stumbles to 12-17 records, I guarantee it will be Nancy Zimpher that pays with her job. Whomever the new coach will be, already got some bad news as 7 foot center Jason Bennett immediately announced that he has removed Cincinnati from the list of schools he is considering.
Bob Huggins will resurface somewhere. I’m sure he’ll spend the upcoming year as a college hoops announcer for ESPN or CBS and then another school will be waiting. Huggins has always flirted with the NBA and I’m sure he will get some calls from them as well. Huggins is a player’s coach. That is why you have to wonder how much immediate trouble Cincinnati will be in. While he was always portrayed as a demonstrative, demanding, yeller his troops loved for him. From Kenyon Martin to Nick Van Exel they all say positive things about the man called “Huggy Bear”.
Today the Huggins era will close on Cincinnati hoops. You knew it would end soap opera style. How could it possibly not? However the clock now ticks for Nancy Zimpher. If I were her, I would find some money and get the best possible coach that I can. For it will be her that walks the plank should Bearcats hoops struggle.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
4 replies on “Cincinnati Gets Rid of Huggy Bear”
Article was… too short
Just right From a reader’s perspective, I felt the length of the piece is just right.
The Russian Bear and Sports Junkie Listen I don’t want to be rude, however you both voted against my article without giving a comment. I’m not bringing this up being arrogant because I’ve won the last two sportscolumn.com writing contests, I’m bringing it up as a guy looking for some constructive criticism. If you are going to vote against an article you owe it to myself and anyone else you two vote against to give a comment as to why.
Sorry. Thought I had posted a comment, but apparently not. The piece… was OK, so maybe voting it down was a bit harsh. Personally, I was kind of bored with it, and to say that the University President will get the axe if their basketball team does poorly is kind of out there – she was hired to run the school first, and a basketball program second. If she’s trying to clean up the school’s image, she made exactly the right move.
The palyers may have loved him, but the academic situation that went on was disgraceful… not to mention the fact that they failed to advance past the first round in the vast majority of his consecutive NCAA tourney appearences despite often being favorites. Maybe he was a good recruiter, but doesn’t it say something about your coach if he can’t perform well in the tourney?