Bob Huggins gone from Cincy

[cabbageboy 0]

Cincinnati Orders Huggins to Resign or Be Fired

Bearcats Head Coach Has 24 Hours to Make Decision

By JOE KAY, AP Sports

 

CINCINNATI (Aug. 23) - Bob Huggins was ordered Tuesday to resign as Cincinnati's basketball coach or he'll be fired, the culmination of a power struggle with the school president.

 

 

 

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Bob Huggins is Cincinnati's winningest coach, but NCAA rules violations and his own drunk driving arrest have marred his tenure.

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In a letter faxed to his lawyer by the university, Huggins was given 24 hours to resign and accept a financial compensation package worth almost $3 million. If he doesn't respond by 2 p.m. Wednesday, he will be fired, the letter said.

 

The 51-year-old coach was traveling and had not seen the letter, lawyer Richard Katz said.

 

Athletic director Bob Goin, one of Huggins' most loyal supporters over the years, said he backed the decision.

 

"It's time for the university to move on," Goin said. "We've reached an impasse."

 

Huggins has won more games than any other coach at Cincinnati, but his tenure also has been marked by player arrests, poor graduation rates and NCAA rules violations that landed the school on probation.

 

 

 

 

His arrest for drunken driving last year upset new school president Nancy Zimpher. Huggins was placed on unpaid leave over the summer, but returned and coached last season, the Bearcats' last before moving into the Big East.

 

"Character counts," Zimpher said emphatically. "Our coaches must be exemplary role models on the court and off."

 

By dumping their head coach less than two months before the start of practice, the school put itself at a major disadvantage heading into one of the nation's toughest basketball conferences.

 

Cincinnati will have an interim coach in the inaugural season and mark on its reputation that could chase away recruits. Goin wanted to take a few days before picking an interim coach.

 

The basketball program could feel repercussions for years, but Zimpher said Huggins' removal would help the university in the long run. She noted that the school has been improving in national academic rankings.

 

"The only variable that we have stagnated on is our national reputation," Zimpher said, blaming the basketball program.

 

Earlier in Huggins' career, the program had one of the lowest graduation rates in the nation. It improved recently, but not enough to please Zimpher, who decided to take on a strong-willed coach accustomed to having things his way.

 

The school declined to invoke a roll-over provision in his contract that would have left Huggins with four years on his deal, making it easier to recruit. Katz has tried unsuccessfully to get the contract extended.

 

"We've been discussing with them for the last six or eight weeks an extension of the contract," Katz said. "It appeared he wasn't going to be able to fulfill the remaining two years of the contract because he couldn't recruit, he was running into obstacles at the university. It would not have been appropriate for that to continue."

 

 

 

 

The letter faxed to Katz on Tuesday was signed by the school's legal counsel, Zimpher, Goin and the chairman of the board of trustees.

 

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information request, offered to keep Huggins in some other job until 2008, paying him $2.77 million over that time. He could have no hand in the basketball program.

 

If Huggins declines the offer, he will be fired, the letter said.

 

"I think we would both agree that these negotiations have gone on far too long," the letter said. "Mr. Huggins has clearly expressed, through you, his desire to move in another direction."

 

Zimpher notified Huggins last May that he would not get his contract automatically extended, as provided for in the deal. He was given the option of leaving or continuing to coach on the two-year deal.

 

He held a news conference to announce he was staying rather than informing the administration privately, a move that evidently drove the wedge deeper. The ultimatum sent on Tuesday referred to the May news conference, noting the university had to issue a statement "in light of the fact that coach Huggins chose to deal with contract issues through the media."

 

Huggins went 399-127 in 16 seasons at Cincinnati, rebuilding it into a nationally prominent program after years in disarray. His teams made 14 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and reached the Final Four in 1992.

 

The program also had a history of player arrests and infractions. The program went on two years' probation in 1998 after the NCAA concluded there was a lack of institutional control.

 

The relationship between Huggins and Zimpher was strained after he was arrested in June 2004 for drunken driving. The police videotape of Huggins staggering during his field sobriety test was shown nationally.

 

Huggins pleaded no contest to driving under the influence, attended a three-day intervention program, and was suspended without pay by the university for two months.

 

The Bearcats failed to win a league title in their final season in Conference USA, and lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After the season, freshman Roy Bright was dismissed from the team because he had a gun on campus.

 

Assistant coach Keith LeGree was arrested and charged with drunken driving, but was acquitted during a trial. He was reinstated as an assistant coach last month.

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I have to admit this surprised me mainly due to the awful timing of it. I recall hearing Huggins was getting 1 more year and then he was out but this makes zero sense. They just fired their coach a couple months before practice starts, not to mention right before entering what should be an incredibly tough Big East.

 

That said, good riddance. But then again I'm a Louisville fan.

[bob_barron 0]

That said, good riddance. But then again I'm a Louisville fan.

 

That said, good riddance. But then again I'm a Memphis fan.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

...And I'm a Kansas fan.

 

Huggins will be back coaching next year with a D1 school anyway, so it's really no big deal.

[teke184 0]

I think it's sad that he had to be forced out like that but it was time for him to go.

 

He'd become the "bad boy" posterboy of coaching ever since Bobby Knight got fired from Indiana and Tark the Shark left Fresno State and went into retirement.

 

If he'd been able to show any form of control over his players, I'd be able to feel more sympathy for him.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well the thing I find odd about this is the timing. If they were going to fire Huggins it should have been after the DUI. They had it set up to where he was a lame duck finishing his contract anyway.

 

The unreported undercurrent here is this however: It was over for Huggins. Let's face it, all Cincy could hang their hat on was winning C-USA and beating the crap out of U of L every year during the waning days of Denny Crum (and early Pitino era). But now U of L has it going again, kicked their ass last year, and Cincy's dominance in conf. is over. Add to it they aren't going to be winning the Big East anyway and Huggins becomes a liability. They can be a midpack BE team but have a bit better image as a program, know what I mean?

 

The last Huggins game at Cincy was a gem though...the tourney loss to UK. That game emcompasses everything Huggins is all about: Tough effort to start, an opponent that won't be bullied or gooned, and eventual lack of control over his team as it degenerates into 1 on 1 brainlock and the obvious loss.

[ant_7000 0]

Im a Depaul fan, I liked him and all, but glad to see him go.

[Vampiro69 0]

Don't let the door knob hit you in the ass on the way out.

[geniusMoment 0]

Around campus many of my friends have been staging a drinking contest in protest. The idea is to get as drunk as possible in as little amount of time as possible. I am not sure how this really accomplishes anything, but what are you going to do.

[the max 0]

You too can be Bob Huggins! Get as drunk as possible in as little amount of time and then get behind the wheel of a car!

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Around campus many of my friends have been staging a drinking contest in protest.  The idea is to get as drunk as possible in as little amount of time as possible.  I am not sure how this really accomplishes anything, but what are you going to do.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'll drink to that.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

The last Huggins game at Cincy was a gem though...the tourney loss to UK.  That game emcompasses everything Huggins is all about:  Tough effort to start, an opponent that won't be bullied or gooned, and eventual lack of control over his team as it degenerates into 1 on 1 brainlock and the obvious loss.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm a UK fan and nothing made me happier than eliminating Huggins from the NCAA tournament and giving him yet another 2nd round loss.

 

I guess I'll feel bad about not getting to pick Cincy to get eliminated in the first or second round of my brackets anymore, but to their credit they may have won the national title in Kenyon Martin's last season there if he hadn't broken his leg in the conference tournament.

[cabbageboy 0]

I made a vow to jump off the Humanities Bldg. (U of L campus) if Cincy won the nat. title in 2000. We'll never know due to the Kenyon injury but I still think they would have choked.

 

Another classic for your Cincy hating dollar: 1998 2nd round defeat vs. WVU. That kid West from WVU nailing a bank in 3 at the buzzer, Melvin Levett gets his ass kicked and knocked out on the floor....one of my favorite games ever.

[Alro 0]

I think the true loss here is that we can no longer call Cincy's basketball team Huggin's Thuggins.

[cabbageboy 0]

Alro, another one for your Cincy hating dollar: The 1996 regional final loss to Mississippi St. at Rupp. I swear on TV it seemed like Cincy had a contingent but everyone else turned on them and actually cheered Miss St. who has just BEATEN UK in the SEC tourney final.

[Alro 0]

That was so long ago I don't remember it.

 

I loved the last UK/Cincy game. They were talking a fair amount of shit to UK (though nothing compated to the shit Utah was spewing) and as usual, the Wildcats put them in their place.