T1B

talk about a KSU meltdown.....

http://cbs.sportsline.com/print/college ... y/10108684



An impromptu rally on campus designed to raise support to help Kansas State keep Bob Huggins was canceled Wednesday night amid speculation the West Virginia graduate could be close to returning to his alma mater after one season with the Wildcats.

A source close to the situation told CBS SportsLine.com over the weekend that if John Beilein left for Michigan, then Huggins would be West Virginia's top target. Now, according to another source, Huggins is seriously considering the opportunity, but he's struggling with whether to pursue his desire of returning to the Big East at the expense of walking away from a Kansas State roster full of elite-level talents who would've never considered attending KSU if not for Huggins luring them to a remote part of the country far away from their homes.

Most notably, that list includes Bill Walker and Michael Beasley. Both could've gone anywhere in the nation, but each picked Kansas State -- hardly a traditional basketball power, at least in recent years -- based solely on Huggins or hires Huggins made upon accepting the KSU job a little more than a year ago.

According to a source, the ideal situation for Huggins would've been for the West Virginia job to open after next season, that way he could've exited Kansas State at the same time Walker and Beasley presumably turned pro. In other words, a move to West Virginia would've been a no-brainer for Huggins after the 2007-08 season, but under these circumstances, at this point, he's genuinely torn.

If Huggins leaves the trickle-down effect could be interesting.

Walker, a rising sophomore, is probably stuck at KSU regardless because transferring would force the 6-foot-6 wing to miss all of next season before regaining his eligibility -- meaning that's a senseless move considering Walker will likely enter the 2008 NBA Draft. But if Huggins left Kansas State, Beasley would almost certainly ask for his release from a national letter of intent, and if it was granted, the incoming freshman would be free to reopen his recruitment or perhaps even follow Huggins to West Virginia if KSU didn't object.

Attempts Wednesday to reach Huggins were unsuccessful.

Huggins led Kansas State to the NIT this past season. The Wildcats finished 23-12 overall. Prior to KSU, Huggins compiled a 399-127 record in 16 seasons at Cincinnati before resigning under pressure in August 2005. The forced resignation came a year after a highly publicized DUI arrest.

I hear if Huggins goes, BCG is on the short list for KSU. :roll:

Once again, college coaches, and I've said this many times before, overall, are slimier than used car salesman. I seriously wouldn't trusty a wooden nickel with any of them. Take what you can out of them and spit them out because they will do the same to you.

IndyFrisco wrote:Once again, college coaches, and I've said this many times before, overall, are slimier than used car salesman. I seriously wouldn't trusty a wooden nickel with any of them. Take what you can out of them and spit them out because they will do the same to you.

I'm certainly no fan of Huggins, and I seriously think the NCAA should have done a thorough investigation on the academic problems of the Cincinnati basketball players during his watch. Having said that, I think it's hard to blame him for seriously considering WVU. After all, it is his alma mater.

I realize this is a stupid example based on what has happened, but assume for just a moment that Snyder had been a lights-out coach at Missouri. Then assume that Coach K had some serious health issues that forced him to retire. Would you have faulted Snyder for taking the Duke job in that scenario?

Terry in Crapchester wrote: I'm certainly no fan of Huggins, and I seriously think the NCAA should have done a thorough investigation on the academic problems of the Cincinnati basketball players during his watch.

i'd agree with that. like, none of them graduating might be the place to start....

IndyFrisco wrote:I hear if Huggins goes, BCG is on the short list for KSU. :roll:

i hear it's a done deal. Billy Clyde will coach both UK and KSU next year. at the presser he said: "i need a new challenge, no one has ever led two teams in the same season to the NCAA tournament".

:twisted:

I don't think we'll see many coaching institutions at one university anymore with how fickle coaches are and with the pressure ADs are under by alumni and boosters to keep a winner on the floor or on the field.

We're in the land of opportunity and no one is obligated to stay in place but you definitely have more respect for someone who wants to build a program and stay there for the longterm and turn into a tradition and become 'the man' at said school. Some coaches like challenges and would just assume jump around to give them more chances to turn teams around. I'm cool with anyone moving from job to job as long as they are out front and honest about their career goals and don't feed us lines of "this is my dream job" and "I want to finish my career here"...just to turn around and leave when someone offers you more money.

I understand anyone who leaves a job to coach somewhere they went to school and played for or was an assistant. Huggins to West Virginia makes sense but you have to bag him a little for taking the job at K-State and is already rumored to leave after one year. If he wanted to coach West Virginia...just sit back and wait for it to open up. Beilein was probably going to either leave for a bigger school at some point. Huggins probably would've still be at Cincinnati if he didn't have his drunk driving incident that lead to his dismissal.

He became a free agent just like Knight after he left his program at Indiana. Any coach that is let go from a program they were with for a long time are presented with the opportunity to take a different job and take on a new challenge. Huggins took on the challenge of building a program at K-State but then a job with sentimental value opens and up and he might jump ship and leave K-State in a lurch in addition to giving his new recruits a difficult choice of staying with the Wildcats or going somewhere else.

I see a guy like John Thompson III who has resurrected the program his dad built 10-20 years ago. Does he want to keep the family tradition alive and keep the Thompson name associate with Georgetown basketball or would he just assume start his own legacy somewhere else? It's a personal decision but I'm sure he'll have critics with whatever he plans on doing going forward.

dark days in Manhattan. they fell in love with the hair, and Huggy jilted them. they'd be throwing themselves off bridges, if there were any.

Shoalzie wrote:I don't think we'll see many coaching institutions at one university anymore with how fickle coaches are and with the pressure ADs are under by alumni and boosters to keep a winner on the floor or on the field.

While I agree with you on that I am not shocked that Huggins would want to go back to his Alma Mater. It will be interesting to see what happens to that great recruiting class he had going to K-State because WVU only lost 1 scholarship player I believe.

I think the recruits he signed for KSU should be given releases, but they absolutely should NOT be able to go to WVU. That would be a real joke.

KSU knew what they were dealing with......they gambled and lost. Really, I suppose they broke even, but definitely not the home run they were hoping for.

Mook wrote:I think the recruits he signed for KSU should be given releases, but they absolutely should NOT be able to go to WVU. That would be a real joke.

The NCAA did away with "conditional releases", now you either don't let a kid bolt or you have no control over where they go to. It used to be you could release a kid but say "you can't follow Coach X to school Y" or "you can't stay in X conference".

FWIW I'm hearing that KSU will not release the kids from their LOI's. If true I'd look for Beasley to head overseas to get paid for a year before heading back to the NBA.

The beauty of this is that everybody was using everybody and only Huggins gets away unhurt......absolutely beautiful!!

i told MU fans, that huggins was a bad hire. huggins wanted the MU job, but the Snyder shit and huggins past scared alden and company. i was against it from the start, i would of rather had snyder back. evil comes with huggins.

his first week of recruiting in kst, and there was a ton of shit swirling about recruiting violations.

west virginia will be ok, he will find some of the thugs from ohio and round the country to go there. i see him as the 1 and done man, he recruits kids who want to play 1 year, he builds a super team for a year. etc.

fuck huggins

Adelpiero wrote:west virginia will be ok, he will find some of the thugs from ohio and round the country to go there. i see him as the 1 and done man, he recruits kids who want to play 1 year, he builds a super team for a year. etc.

fuck huggins

have you noticed wvu's football alumni? pacman and chris henry aren't exactly rhodes scholars. thuggins doesn't have to worry about ruining his graduation rate, as i doubt most of his players can even count the fans teeth (5 for those not familiar with the residents of wva). fuck huggin and fuck the collapsedcoalmineers.