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Bob Huggins (EX West Virginia Head Coach)

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Huggins agrees to step down as coach

CINCINNATI -- Bob Huggins stepped down under pressure Wednesday as Cincinnati's basketball coach, ousted by a school president determined to change the program's image.

One day after Huggins was given an ultimatum of resigning or being fired, Huggins' attorney, Richard Katz, said a tentative agreement had been reached for him to leave the job. Katz said details were still being worked out on Huggins' compensation.

President Nancy Zimpher wants the program to recruit players with better grades and an aversion to trouble. She also wants her coaches to be better role models.

Huggins' arrest and conviction for drunken driving last year dismayed Zimpher, a strong-willed administrator who wound up in a power struggle with the strong-willed coach. She refused to extend his contract last May, setting the stage for the 51-year-old coach's dismissal.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, associate head coach Andy Kennedy will be asked to replace Huggins in the interim.

During Huggins' 16-year stay at Cincinnati, the Bearcats made the Final Four and were ranked No. 1 nationally for the first time in 34 years. They also developed a history of player arrests and violations that resulted in an NCAA probation in 1998 and a hoodlum image nationally. In the 1990s, the Bearcats had one of the lowest graduation rates in the nation.

After last season ended, a player was kicked off the team for having a gun on campus. An assistant coach was charged with drunken driving, but was acquitted at trial.

Huggins' forced resignation leaves the Bearcats in a bind heading into their first season of Big East play.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2142042
 
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UC Huggins Nick Lachey Outraged - Speaks Out

Well written letter by Nick Lachey to Cincinnati Enquirer

By Nick Lachey
Enquirer contributor

Welcome to the Ohio Valley Conference.

So sorry, Dr. Zimpher. I know you expected an invitation to the Ivy League, but I have sad news for you: it’s not going to happen. Welcome to the Ohio Valley Conference University of Cincinnati! That’s exactly what we’ve positioned ourselves for now.

If commissioner Mike Tranghese kicks us straight out of the Big East, I would completely understand.

If Conference USA doesn’t take us back, I couldn’t blame them. What? The Ivy League won’t accept us? But we’re a great American academic institution!

OK, I guess we’ll join the OVC. After all, shouldn’t the Ohio Valley Conference be represented by someone in the Ohio Valley?

American sports information is hard to come by in Stockholm, Sweden. I’m here recording tracks for my new album. Thank God for ESPN.com, my faithful homepage. Just when I think the insanity in Cincinnati is reserved for the Red’s front office, Dr. Zimpher goes and proves me wrong.

I ask again, what is happening at the University of Cincinnati? Is the city so paralyzed that they think they can get away with this?

This is one of the most successful coaches in all of NCAA college basketball, right there in our own little town. He has led our Bearcat program back from the dead, to the tune of 14 straight NCAA Tournament appearances. He was just voted Conference USA Coach of the Decade. He just led our entire athletic department to a major national athletic conference.

Do we reward him, extend his contract, give him a bonus for a job well done? No. We kindly, or not so kindly, ask him to leave all he’s accomplished as well as those he’s accomplished it with, and accept our generous parting gift. A buyout with a healthy dose of Cobra health insurance. Are you kidding me? This is an outrage.

The speculation that this could happen was enough to give me ulcers, but this is ridiculous. I counted on the sensibility and rationale of people in power to avoid this end, but I guess I was foolish in my faith. Apparently, Dr. Zimpher has distributed the Kool-Aid to others.

What are the grounds for his dismissal? I’ve seen the University try and blame everything on Huggins’dissatisfaction for his contract situation. Well, of course he was dissatisfied. Have you ever tried to recruit a high school All-American with two years left on your contract?

Who in their right mind would come play for you for four years if they weren’t assured that you were going to be their coach for their junior and senior years?

In addition, what bearing does the basketball program have on the rest of the university’s academics? Does Bob Huggins prevent the physics department from winning the Nobel Prize, or someone in the English Department from winning the Pulitzer? No! He does his job and everyone else at the university should do theirs.

What else can we pin on him? A DUI? This happened over a year ago and has been met by Huggins with shame and humility. If you were going to fire him for this, why not do it a year ago, before he led your university to yet another NCAA Tournament? Why wait for over a year? If it’s about the DUI, I suggest we offer George W. Bush a buyout as well! The Roy Bright thing? Give me a break. Ask any coach if they would recruit a four-year player out of Oak Hill Acadamy and the answer would be yes.

The bottom line is, this is ludicrious! We should be ashamed of ourselves as fans of the Bearcats and the university as a whole if we lay down and let this slide.

Bob Goin, shame on you! How could you sign your name to this letter? Bob Huggins made your job a dream. He helped to lead your entire athletic department to national noterioty.
Andy Kennedy, shame on you if you take the interim job, same for Keith LeGree. Where is your loyalty to the man who gave you your opportunity and insight into this great game of college basketball? Would you proudly take over the job made available by the unjust firing of your mentor?

Lastly, shame on the alumni of the University of Cincinnati, of which most of my family are included. To go on and act as if nothing has happened here is to support the decision made by Dr. Zimpher. We all empower her to make the decisions we see here.

I challenge you all to oppose this with the most influential means possible - your wallets. As a die-hard Bearcat fan this pains me to say, but we have to make our voices and influence known. This is not for the good of the UC Bearcat basketball program, or for the good of the University of Cincinnati for that matter. This is about egos, and that is unacceptable.

Nick Lachey, former member of 98 Degrees and co-star of “Newlyweds� with wife Jessica Simpson contacted the Enquirer through a representative Tuesday and wanted to have his voice heard
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Hopefully all of the promised retribution described in the following article does not come to pass.
Some boosters threaten to withhold their support

By Kevin Kelly and Christy Arnold
Enquirer staff writers

The decision to oust men's basketball coach Bob Huggins could cost the University of Cincinnati more than just a couple recruits.

It could lead to the loss of longtime fans and thousands, if not millions, in financial support.

Followers and supporters of the basketball program, the athletic department and the institution in general reacted strongly to Tuesday's news that Huggins has until 2 p.m. today to decide how his run as the Bearcats' coach will end.

"I think Bob wants to stay and coach the kids at the University of Cincinnati," said Mike Dever, President of Performance Automotive Network and former president of the University of Cincinnati Athletic Team Scholarship Fund (UCATS). "I don't know anybody that doesn't want that to take place except the Board of Trustees. (University president) Dr. (Nancy) Zimpher and the board made their decision, and there's nothing anybody can do about it.

He continued: "I think it's a tremendous loss for the University of Cincinnati and the whole athletic department."

Bob Martin, a Cincinnati attorney and longtime Bearcats supporter, said he is a trustee for a foundation that has been raising funds with the intention of donating that money to the university.

The amount: $4 million.

"I've been working with (UC athletic director Bob Goin) trying to get a sum of money donated to the school," Martin said. "When he calls me back, I'm going to tell him that she (Zimpher) has made my job easy.

"We're not going to donate anything if I've got anything to say about it."

Keith Stichtenoth, associate executive director of the UC Alumni Association, said his office received some calls once the new broke Tuesday.

"I can't quantify them," Stichtenoth said. "I don't think there were more than a dozen or so calls and e-mails. I think it's just people reacting to apparent news. We've been down that road before on the same topic. They want to maybe express their concern or displeasure, and we got some of that. ... The people who would be offering a counter to that aren't likely to call or e-mail. We talk to them, enough to know there's a diversity of opinion."

Local restaurateur Jeff Ruby sounded as if he could be included in that group.

"Short term it's going to be tough for UC," Ruby said. "But I think over the long term it will be good for Bob and for UC.

"They'll be fine. He'll be OK. It's probably a win-win."

At an alumni dinner supporting Bearcats athletics Tuesday, and to gear up for the upcoming football season, the focus was on the news of the day.

"It's taking the glory away for all of these boys," said Cheech Mullikin, of Forest Park. "It's just a very low blow to all the students and families who support this university."

Four of Mullikin's family members graduated from UC, where they have season tickets for basketball. She's concerned about the high school players recruited to play for Huggins.

"(Zimpher) just screwed their whole future along with their families," Mullikin said.

Hamilton Township residents Bob and Elaine Tragesser are upset about the timing of Zimpher's decision, which they say came on the heels of collecting annual UCATS dues.

"Nancy waited until we gave our annual fund," Elaine Tragesser said. "We are UCATS and we feel the timing was very bad."

Since 1979, UCATS has been "the framework for supporting the efforts of Bearcat student-athletes."

The organization, according to its Web site, "provides a way for individuals to help talented young people receive a quality education while ensuring UC's tradition of both academic and athletic excellence."

Neil Van Uum, owner of Joseph-Beth Booksellers, said he is among the top 100 donors to UCATS and has not renewed yet for 2005-06.

Before he will, Van Uum said, "I want some answers. It might (affect future donations)."

Tom Gregory, president of Montgomery Inn Inc., which hosts Huggins' weekly radio show in its original Montgomery location, said the company will end that arrangement, plus any support of UC athletics if Huggins is fired or forced out.

Others who attended Tuesday's alumni dinner said Zimpher's decision wouldn't stop them from supporting the athletes.

"I was here before Nancy Zimpher and I'll be here after," said Frank Wood of Clifton.

Enquirer staff writer Cliff Peale and sports editor Michael Perry contributed to this report.
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A Balanced Article from Enquirer Columnist

Seen here

Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Zimpher won battle, but war awaits

By Paul Daugherty
Enquirer staff writer

Winning the war was easier than winning the peace. Not that Nancy Zimpher's knock-down drag-out with Bob Huggins was a first-round KO. If you put the University of Cincinnati president and basketball coach in the same room with one clock on the wall, they couldn't agree on the time. All they have in common is an unwillingness to be pushed around.
But the unqualified mess that concluded Tuesday, with the school telling the coach to resign or be fired, was a walkover compared with what happens next. Zimpher has decided UC basketball is broken. Now, she has to fix it. All that's in the balance is her legacy as the university's president.

Having said that, we'll also say this: A coach, even one as successful and powerful as Huggins had become, cannot be allowed to win a power struggle with his university's president. Bob Knight couldn't do it. What chance did Bob Huggins have?

At most schools where coaches loom godlike and untouchable, presidents leave well enough alone. They enjoy the national acclaim. They tolerate the Faustian deal they cut to achieve it. They know that challenging a big-time coach is more trouble than it's worth.

Zimpher didn't look at it like that. She challenged a Cincinnati icon and won. Her victory will be judged by how she handles the reconstruction.

It could be the Marshall Plan of college basketball. Fans are furious. Some donors are put off. Players are disillusioned. Recruits could change their minds. The program is in chaos.

We'll find out, over the next several years, if Huggins built the program, or if Huggins was the program. Anyone taking the job will learn quickly that UC basketball thrived under the force of Huggins' will. The same will helped seal his fate.

Zimpher and the Board of Trustees have shown a remarkable lack of understanding of how college basketball works. You cannot tell the world that your coach is finished in two years, then expect that coach to compete for recruits in a league like the Big East. UC admitted as much in an Aug. 8 letter to Huggins' lawyer, Richard Katz. "UC agrees with your client that the parties should end their relationship as soon as possible."

In Zimpher's world, academic and athletic success are twin sons of the same mother. The Aug. 8 letter, again: "UC believes it can better advance its mission by building a winning program around scholar-athletes who earn degrees that will allow them to succeed not only in athletics but more importantly in life generally."

Large goal, that.

Also one that a university president has every right to set. If Zimpher were president of UC men's hoops, then hang her from the highest backboard for this. She ain't. You can say she has thrown the basketball program into darkness. You can say she has thrown Huggins' loyalty to the curb. What you cannot say is that, as president, Zimpher isn't obliged to do what she feels is in the best interests of the entire place.

People in Zimpher's camp say that, behind the scenes, Huggins has urged big donors to close their wallets. They argue that a spiteful Huggins prolonged the fight knowing he would take the buyout eventually, that he waited as long as he did to hurt the basketball program.

Believe what you want. Regardless, if UC were to retain its self-respect, Zimpher had to win.

This was one episode Huggins could not John-Wayne his way through. He didn't have the unqualified support of many heavy-hitting boosters, or even the backing of his athletic director. Bob Goin had championed him publicly, until this summer. Goin's signature is on the letter Huggins received Tuesday.

Halfway through July, Huggins was still demanding a three-year contract extension or the resumption of his four-year rollover. He was never good at taking no for an answer. Or having anyone tell him how things would be. Both sides are to blame for this mess. Spite against spite is never pretty.

No one should forget the good work Huggins has done here, the loyalty he inspired, or his charming inability to say no to nearly every charitable request. Through will and deed, Bob Huggins became a prominent stitch in the city's fabric.

His sweat-ethic insistence on hard work from his players and himself appealed to Cincinnati's Everyman heart. The success of his teams throughout the 1990s, when the Bengals floundered and the Reds mostly treaded water, kept our civic pride from banging rock bottom.

Another thing: Huggins never went big-time, even when he did. His daughters attended public school. He occasionally spent evenings in a neighbor's driveway, swapping lies between gulps of adult beverages. His phone number was in the book. Huggins' swift return from a heart attack was inspirational and a testament to his resolve.

His resolve is tested anew. Not as much as Zimpher's will be, though. If she didn't know what she'd gotten herself into, she's about to find out.

E-mail [email protected]
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This guy doesnt think its right.




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

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Aug. 24, 2005
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
http://cbs.sportsline.com/columns/writers/doyel
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http://cbs.sportsline.com/print/collegebasketball/story/8768009 http://cbs.sportsline.com/emailafri...ati Bearcats, NCAA Division I Mens Basketball http://cbs.sportsline.com/xml/rss 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.

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Conspiracy???

I wonder if Karen Hobrook's PR agent had something to do with this situation. Maybe the agent somehow convinced Nancy to create a f*bomb of a situation in Cincy to make Hobrook's delusions of grandure seem "normal".

Reminds me of Clinton bombing a doll factory in Puntangistan after he was exposed for getting BJ's in the oval office from a fat, dirty slut...

Yeah, that has to be it...
 
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Updated: Sep. 30, 2005, 11:44 AM ET
Report: Martin expresses displeasure at Bearcats



Kenyon Martin no longer wants to be affiliated with the University of Cincinnati because the school forced coach Bob Huggins to resign.
The forward, one of only three players to have his number retired by the Bearcats, expressed his displeasure during a charity event honoring the coach Thursday night. Martin said he'd like to have his number un-retired and taken off the wall at the arena.
"This is personal between me and the university," Martin said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "The way I feel, I want my name no longer affiliated with the University of Cincinnati. I would like them to take my jersey down and get rid of my locker and my trophies."
Coaches Rick Pitino of Louisville, Tubby Smith of Kentucky, Bobby Lutz of Charlotte, and John Calipari of Memphis, as well as former players and fans attended the roast, which will benefit Huggins' Emanuel Center charity and the Salvation Army's Hurricane Katrina fund.
Huggins thanked Cincinnati and its fans, and told the appreciative crowd he'll be back on the sidelines eventually.
"I'm going to coach again," Huggins said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I don't have any idea where. I'm not one of those guys that's going to run around hoping someone gets fired. That's for sure. I've never lived my life that way. ... If the right opportunity comes, then we'll do it."
His fellow coaches expect to see him there soon. "He'll be missed, but it will be the same way it went for Bob Knight when he left Indiana," Pitino said. "I think this will rejuvenate Bob [Huggins] and get him to sort of see where he wants to have his last stint coaching, where he wants it to be. Follow the teams, maybe do a little TV work. Get back into it the way he wants."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2176839
 
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sandgk said:
Skip Prosser. Just to further piss off the Wake fans.
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Wow! Great guess that far back.

I was just driving in my car and listening to 700 wlw radio station about several sports topics: One such topic was UC Basketball and I didn't catch who was the guest, but his speculation (and though he qualified it as speculation he sounded like there was some potential to it based on some "inside" info) was that Skip Prosser would be the next UC basketball coach. Then Wake would go get the WVU coach, and Huggins would end up going to UNLV and taking OJ Mayo and Walker there with him.

Again, I just caught the tail end of the conversation so I don't know who the guy saying it was or how "on" he might be, but I thought it was a very interesting scenerio if nothing else.
 
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Padraig said:
Wow! Great guess that far back.

I was just driving in my car and listening to 700 wlw radio station about several sports topics: One such topic was UC Basketball and I didn't catch who was the guest, but his speculation (and though he qualified it as speculation he sounded like there was some potential to it based on some "inside" info) was that Skip Prosser would be the next UC basketball coach. Then Wake would go get the WVU coach, and Huggins would end up going to UNLV and taking OJ Mayo and Walker there with him.

Again, I just caught the tail end of the conversation so I don't know who the guy saying it was or how "on" he might be, but I thought it was a very interesting scenerio if nothing else.
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I would think under that scenario that Thuggins and OJ "Me"yo would end up at WVU.
 
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StadiumDorm said:
I would think under that scenario that Thuggins and OJ "Me"yo would end up at WVU.
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The interviewer asked the dude making all these comments about just that. But according to the interviewee, Huggins to WVU would not happen because after this year's seniors left (according to him) the bench was terrible and WVU could not consistantly draw talented recruits (though I guess if he could pull them to UNLV, why not Walker & Mayo to WVU? don't know). He also made it sound like the whole mistique of the old "Runnin Rebels" would be a perfect fit for Bobby Hugs and recruits like the two Cinci kids.
 
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Considering both Mayo and Walker are from the great state of West Virginia and Huggins was born in Morgantown and got both his bachelor's and master's degrees from WVU (and started his coaching career there as a graduate assistant), I don't think it would be a stretch at all for those 3 to end up at WVU together. But it's all contingent on WVU's current coach providing a vacant seat.
 
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