Trending
Bob Huggins is a lot of things to a lot of people.
Words like husband, father, coach, friend and mentor are often used.
After tonight's ceremony in Springfield, Mass. at the National Basketball Hall of Fame, everyone will know Huggins -- the current West Virginia University head coach -- as a hall of famer.
"I am extremely proud of whatever I've accomplished or whatever people think I accomplished," Huggins said during a recent Zoom call with reporters. "Most importantly, I know what my guys think about me."
Huggins, who owns 916 career college basketball wins, has been on the ballot for entry before only to come up short. Mountaineer fans and basketball enthusiasts were left wondering, 'what the heck is it going to take for this guy to get in?' Quite simply, Huggins never worried about it.
"I try to worry about the things that I need to worry about and let the other people talk and worry about the other things," Huggins explained.
Only if we could all do that so well.
Several things are about Huggins are definites. He's not taken the easy route to the hall of fame. He did it his way and most importantly, he did it the right way.
"I didn't break the rules or cheat," Huggins said. "If you look around at some of the guys who are in where I am headed, they broke a lot of rules. I never did."
As for doing it his way, Huggins stressed that the chief characteristic of coaches -- and players for that matter -- in the hall of fame.
"The first thing that pops into my head is they're real," Huggins said. "They don't try to be something they're not. What they are is very, very good. I've never tried to be anyone other than me. It worked out well on some days and not so well on other days."
Just because he's now part of basketball's ultimate fraternity, Huggins, who will turn 69 later this month, isn't anywhere close to slowing down yet. After all, he's not accomplished his main goal since coming back to WVU.
"My goal when I came back here (to Morgantown) was to win a national championship for this state," Huggins said. "(Current Youngstown State head coach and former WVU assistant) Jared Calhoun came up with this idea if we win the national championship to get a bus and go from town to town and let the people of West VIrginia touch the trophy. We want them to be proud of team, state and university, but we've not won it yet, so that goal is still there."
While Huggins formally cut his coaching teeth at Walsh College in Canton, he actually got his first taste of the profession at his home in Tuscarawas County thanks to his late father, Charlie.
"By the time I got to West Virginia as a graduate assistant under Coach (Joedy) Gardner, I was sort of used to (coaching) to a degree," Huggins admitted. "I had been coaching at my dad's camp for a long time."
The Eastern Ohio Basketball Camps, which are still held today in Sherrodsville, attracted numerous talented players and teams when they were in their prime. Quite frankly, there weren't a lot of these types of camps where athletes stayed in dormitory-type settings offered.
When working those camps, Huggins watched and observed the staff of coaches and got to interact with the players, too.
"Being around my dad, Ed McCluskey, (former Buckeye Trail head coach) Terry Leggett and the other coaches, I learned so much from watching and helping those guys," Huggins explained.
During these camps, Huggins wasn't just a guy who played babysitter or something. He was literally on the court coaching and teaching.
"It wasn't like I was just coaching seven and eight-year olds," Huggins said. "I was involved with virtually all of the people who came through that camp. Because of the respect people had for my dad it attracted virtually every college coach in Ohio at one time or another."
Huggins didn't let that opportunity to pass by either. On top of the coaching, he spent time talking with college coaches. Many of whom knew both him and his dad pretty well. Either they had recruited Huggins out of Indian Valley South before he committed to Ohio University or they had come to pick his dad's brain on a myriad of issues.
"Knowing all those guys opened up a lot of opportunities for me," Huggins said.
After passing on opportunities to get a job with a Division II or III school, Huggins landed the aforementioned graduate assistant job with the Mountaineers. While working at his alma mater was enjoyable, it was also different because many of the players he was now mentoring were just his teammates the year prior.
"There were a bunch of guys still there who I had just played 30-some games with," Huggins said. "It was a little bit different to say the least. All I wanted to do was whatever Coach Gardner wanted me to do."
During his stint as a graduate assistant, Huggins, who had been in camp with the Philadelphia 76ers before getting cut, met his wife, June, who was working in the Mountaineer Coliseum.
"My wife was working there selling hot dogs and cokes and I can remember going home after practice and she had taken a couple of hot dogs home with her and it got me to thinking, 'I better find a job doing something," Huggins said.
Huggins landed his first coaching job in 1978 as an assistant at Ohio State. He stayed there until the 1980 season when he accepted the job at Walsh.
"The more and more you do, the more and more people gain faith in your ability," Huggins said. "if I had waited four days (after accepting the Walsh job), I could have made more money at Malone, but Walsh was the first place that asked me to be a head coach, so I went."
Within two seasons, Huggins' impact had been felt at Walsh. He guided the Cavaliers to the NAIA National Championship game where they fell and finished with a 34-1 record.
Huggins had arrived.
He opted to return to the Division I ranks after three seasons at Walsh, accepting an assistant's position at Central Florida. He held that until 1984 when he was hired at Akron. He guided the Zips to a 97-46 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 1986.
Even though he'd been a head coach twice and was experiencing success, Huggins didn't feel like he was truly in the 'fraternity' just yet.
"When I was at Walsh or Akron, I felt like I was still one of the guys getting pats on the head (from the coaching veterans) telling me that my day was going to come soon," Huggins said. "I couldn't wait to go beat those people who were patting me on the head."
Huggins remained in the state of Ohio, but moved up the ladder when he was named the head coach at Cincinnati in 1989. He held the job with the Bears until 2005, ringing up 399 wins, 10 regular-season conference titles and eight league-tournament titles. He guided UC to the 1992 Final Four.
With the Mountaineers, Huggins has been brilliant. He took WVU to the Final Four in 2010 and has won 326 games, which is a total sure to increase this winter.
After all, Huggins hasn't achieved his final goal yet.
OHIO SPRING SPORTS DIVISIONS
The OHSAA announced the divisions for the sports of baseball, softball, boys and girls track and boys tennis last week.
A handful of area schools will be competing in a different division in 2023.
In baseball, Buckeye Local has moved up to Division II and Union Local has slid back to Division III.
Softball saw the most changes for area schools. Martins Ferry and Harrison Central both moved up a division to Division II, while St. Clairsville dropped down a division to III and Bellaire has returned to D-III after spending last season in Division IV.
In boys track, both Bellaire and Martins Ferry dropped to Division III. In girls' track, Barnesville bumped up to Division II.
SETH'S SCOOPS
THE FIRST OVAC champions of the 2022-23 school year will be crowned this week as the annual golf championships tee it up at Oglebay Park. The 1A/2A and 4A schools will both play on Tuesday at Crispin, utilizing a pro start. The 3A will be held at Crispin on Thursday and the 5A will be at Spiedel Golf Club's Jones Course on Thursday.
BELMONT HILLS Country Club's PGA Junior League was represented last weekend in the Junior League Regional Championships in Michigan. The team, which was coached by Jaren Straughn, was comprised of Matthew Brown, Alyssa Tomlinson, Kamden Kinyo and Coltyn Harman. BHCC's PGA Junior Program has nearly 100 players involved and is one of the largest in Ohio.