April 5, 2007
A majority of Kansas State fans probably hate Bob Huggins right now.Some never will forgive him.Today Huggins decided to leave K-State after one season to accept the head coaching vacancy at West Virginia, his alma mater.Huggins spent barely a year in the Little Apple, and in that short amount of time he made the Wildcats a team to take seriously again.K-State had been at best mediocre and at worst laughable since Dana Altman was fired after the 1993-1994 season, but Huggins led the Wildcats to a 23-12 record and fourth-place finish in the Big 12 Conference in his one year at the helm. The 'Cats were competitive almost every night out, but more important they were a team worthy of respect.Huggins convinced talented players to come to Manhattan and play for him. Even more impressive was the job he did convincing his inherited players to sacrifice and buy into his style of play (think Cartier Martin).In an almost overnight turnaround, the Wildcats became a team that people on the national basketball scene were talking about - and not in a mocking way.For all that Huggins gave to KSU in one short year, it's likely that Wildcats fans will forget it all immediately. Instead, they'll call Huggins a traitor for ditching the school that gave him a second chance after an embarassing DUI video contributed to his ouster at Cincinnati. The disdain won't be quite the equivalent of what Roy Williams experienced in Lawrence after bolting for North Carolina, but it will still be severe.And just like Kansas fans' anger toward Williams is foolish, K-State fans' displeasure with Huggins will be too.Yes, K-State gave Huggins an opportunity to revive his career. But here's the other side of the coin: Huggins gave Kansas State an opportunity to revive a long-dormant program. In the long run K-State should get more out of this one season than Huggins ever will. He's got his career back, but KSU has its program back.Thanks to Bob Huggins, the Kansas State job is one that quality coaches should take seriously. As long as Bill Walker and the incoming recruiting class decide to stick around, prospective coaches will inherit a talented roster that can compete right away. NCAA Tournament hopes will be realistic from day one. And the fan base is reinvigorated, too, which is another bonus.Early reports on GoPowercat.com indicate that assistant coach Frank Martin is a likely candidate to replace Huggins. 'Cats fans should keep in mind Martin was Huggins' head recruiter responsible for bringing in Walker and Michael Beasley, the top recruit in the nation. In a lot of ways his recruiting resume resembles that of KU coach Bill Self.Huggins is gone, but Kansas State basketball is set up for a prosperous future. The university and its fans should thank Huggins for that, not despise him.
Comments
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Joel (Joel Mathis) says...
Counterpoint:
http://www.lawrence.com/blogs/mathis/...
April 5, 2007 at 4:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mightyquin (anonymous) says...
I doubt K-state will be able to capitalize on what Huggins started. They are likely to lose any recruiting credibility they might have now no matter how good a coach replaces him. Not to mention the players that already said they will follow him to WV. I hope Huggins at least bought them dinner before he screwed them like that.
April 6, 2007 at 2:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wbabbit (Will Babbit) says...
not even a reacharound...
April 6, 2007 at 12:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Uhlrick_Hetfield_III (anonymous) says...
I still think if that moron Hemenway had been awake, Roy Williams would still be here. Everyone knew he was unhappy with Al Bohl except the dummy at the top who could have done something about it.
Wristen is right, it's foolish to hate Williams for wanting to leave a school where the administration (Bohl and Hemenway) took him for granted. Bohl is gone, why is the head idiot still here?
April 6, 2007 at 10:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ksballboy (anonymous) says...
Are you kidding me?! K-State got it's program back?! Absolutely not. KSU set up their whole program around Huggins, and completely embraced him. After one adequate year at best, allbeit a lot better than any year the Cats have had in a long time, he jumps ship. He screwed his recruits and he screwed KSU. What are they supposed to do now? Well what they did was hire Frank Martin and Dalonte Hill to try and keep their recruits. A dirty recruiter and an AAU coach that was only on Huggins' staff to ensure Beasley would go to KSU... for a year. Maybe all the recruits stay. What happens after that? Frank Martin won't pan out as a coach. Dalonte Hill was only good for Beasley, much like Danny Manning's father was to KU in 1987-1988.
As far as comparing the departure to Roy Williams, yeah right. Roy Williams inherited a team that had just won the national championship. The only reason Larry Brown quit is because he had to get out of Dodge before the NCAA came down on him with recruiting violations. That's neither here nor there, I just wanted to make that point because KU fans think their sh** doesn't stink. But anyway, Roy Williams kept KU on top of college basketball the whole time he was there. No, he never won the national championship, but he kept their program in the elite of the NCAA with premium recruiting classes and multiple trips to the final four. So the KU vacancy when Roy left was the premier job in the country at the time. Are you telling me KSU is now a favorable place to coach now because Huggins was in Manhattan... FOR ONE YEAR? Are you kidding? KSU fans would have understood if he would have went to WVU after a few years and helping build the program to some extent. Instead he left KSU's basketball program in a state of anarchy.
April 7, 2007 at 5:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
katnip (Deb Townsend) says...
Williams, Huggins, now Turgeon, but he'd be an idiot not to go to A&M. At least he's not abandoning a dynasty, not that Huggins was either, that's a hat RoyBoy gets to wear himself!
April 9, 2007 at 1:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cwrist (Chris Wristen) says...
ksballboy,
I'd consider this "getting the program back":
1. A big-name coach actually agrees to come to your school instead of K-State having to settle for some no-name assistant
2. Top-tier talent commits to play at your school
3. Other good players on the national scale list Kansas State as a school they're interested in, alongside Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Arizona, etc ...
4. Fans start packing the house on a regular basis for the first time in about 20 years
5. Fans get angry about a coach leaving because they now actually have expectations of success for their program (look at Kansas football before and after the arrival of Mangino as another example of this)
Now, if Wefald and Weiser would have just put on a confident, professional face in front of the TV cameras rather than going on there and sobbing about how life isn't fair - and then making a knee-jerk reaction hire 24 hours later instead of taking their time to make a decision - perhaps they could avoid sending K-State back to basketball's dark ages.
April 9, 2007 at 2:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )