West Virginia University basketball coach Bob Huggins made his annual trek to Canton, Ohio on Monday May 5th to speak to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club.
Huggins did not disappoint. Blending humor, sarcasm and unvarnished honesty into his 35 minute speech, Huggins delighted the crowd of 250 with reflections, commentary, and criticism.
When the microphone failed initially, Huggins told those in the rear of the audience who couldn’t hear him, “You should have gotten here earlier.” After the technical difficulties were repaired, Coach Huggins began his monologue by commenting on the media, the past season, his players, the officials, and the NCAA.
He’s been a critic of Jay Bilas, the ESPN basketball commentator, who he criticized for being soft, laughing that Bilas wrote a book called “Toughness”: “Have you ever seen Jay play? It’s a best seller. What a great country.”
He also took a poke at Doug Gottleib, another ESPN basketball analyst, who Huggins said, “shot less than 50% from the foul line in college.” “He wanted to shoot against me in a free throw shooting contest for charity. I said bring your checkbook.”
Upon learning that University of Akron basketball coach Keith Dambrot recently commented negatively on Huggins’ multi-million dollar salary, he told the story of his first coaching job at Walsh University in Canton when, in 1981, he was paid $11,000 a year to coach basketball, baseball, golf, teach 15 hours per week, and run student housing, obviously paying his coaching dues to get where he’s at today. Regarding Dambrot, Huggins joked: “In biblical times, when an ass spoke, it was considered a miracle….tell Dambrot I said that.”
Downplaying the Mountaineers’ past season with an ‘Elite Eight’ finish as “pretty good”, Huggins said the change to an up-tempo style with a full court press was significant. Essentially, Huggins returned to the coaching style that led to his success at Cincinnati, telling his team “I’m going to give you a pair of sneakers and a hard time.”
Huggins described the the effective West Virginia press like having someone walk 2 blocks down the street with you, one inch from your face. “Nobody likes that…..that’s why it works.”
“Since we couldn’t shoot at all, we won by leading the nation in turnovers forced, total steals and steals per game…..We averaged 17 mores shots per game than our opponents.”.
The WVU recruiting class for this season is expected to help the Mountaineers shoot better. “Esa Amed from Cleveland has a chance to be someone special.” He also mentioned Teyvon Myers, a JUCO transfer from Williston, North Dakota, and an honorable mention All-American this past season.
Coach Huggins allows his players to believe they are involved in team democracy by giving them decisions on uniforms, practice gear, food, the travel wardrobe, and practice time on Saturday: “things I don’t care about…..then they actually think they have a voice in the program.”
When asked his opinion of ‘one and done’ players Huggins joked: “I wish I had some.”
“Duke recruits ‘one and done’ players, and their program is the one we’re all supposed to emulate, so there can’t be anything wrong with it, so then I guess it’s all right.” His sarcasm was not missed by those in attendance.
Huggins believes that most young basketball players are not ready for the challenges of the NBA directly from high school. The longer a student-athlete stays in college, the better prepared he is for the challenges ahead.
Always a harsh critic of officiating, Huggins grumbled that officials do what ever they want without regard to the rule book—that they’ve become television celebrities. “The best officials are the ones you don’t remember after the game.” He was especially critical of officials who call shooting fouls, describing them as “orgasmic” when they get to motion “and one”…. “it’s like sex to them.”
Huggins feels the NCAA is not operating in the best interest of the student-athlete. “Because of the television schedule, we start a road game at 9pm and arrive back on campus at 5am…..is that fair to the student-athlete?….the hard part is telling the players that you better be in an 8am class….I don’t think colleges should take the kind of money they take from television and let television run everything.”
Throughout his talk, Huggins repeatedly told his audience that he was “just being honest.” It was the understatement of the year by one of college basketball’s best coaches.
Huggins did not disappoint. Blending humor, sarcasm and unvarnished honesty into his 35 minute speech, Huggins delighted the crowd of 250 with reflections, commentary, and criticism.
When the microphone failed initially, Huggins told those in the rear of the audience who couldn’t hear him, “You should have gotten here earlier.” After the technical difficulties were repaired, Coach Huggins began his monologue by commenting on the media, the past season, his players, the officials, and the NCAA.
He’s been a critic of Jay Bilas, the ESPN basketball commentator, who he criticized for being soft, laughing that Bilas wrote a book called “Toughness”: “Have you ever seen Jay play? It’s a best seller. What a great country.”
He also took a poke at Doug Gottleib, another ESPN basketball analyst, who Huggins said, “shot less than 50% from the foul line in college.” “He wanted to shoot against me in a free throw shooting contest for charity. I said bring your checkbook.”
Upon learning that University of Akron basketball coach Keith Dambrot recently commented negatively on Huggins’ multi-million dollar salary, he told the story of his first coaching job at Walsh University in Canton when, in 1981, he was paid $11,000 a year to coach basketball, baseball, golf, teach 15 hours per week, and run student housing, obviously paying his coaching dues to get where he’s at today. Regarding Dambrot, Huggins joked: “In biblical times, when an ass spoke, it was considered a miracle….tell Dambrot I said that.”
Downplaying the Mountaineers’ past season with an ‘Elite Eight’ finish as “pretty good”, Huggins said the change to an up-tempo style with a full court press was significant. Essentially, Huggins returned to the coaching style that led to his success at Cincinnati, telling his team “I’m going to give you a pair of sneakers and a hard time.”
Huggins described the the effective West Virginia press like having someone walk 2 blocks down the street with you, one inch from your face. “Nobody likes that…..that’s why it works.”
“Since we couldn’t shoot at all, we won by leading the nation in turnovers forced, total steals and steals per game…..We averaged 17 mores shots per game than our opponents.”.
The WVU recruiting class for this season is expected to help the Mountaineers shoot better. “Esa Amed from Cleveland has a chance to be someone special.” He also mentioned Teyvon Myers, a JUCO transfer from Williston, North Dakota, and an honorable mention All-American this past season.
Coach Huggins allows his players to believe they are involved in team democracy by giving them decisions on uniforms, practice gear, food, the travel wardrobe, and practice time on Saturday: “things I don’t care about…..then they actually think they have a voice in the program.”
When asked his opinion of ‘one and done’ players Huggins joked: “I wish I had some.”
“Duke recruits ‘one and done’ players, and their program is the one we’re all supposed to emulate, so there can’t be anything wrong with it, so then I guess it’s all right.” His sarcasm was not missed by those in attendance.
Huggins believes that most young basketball players are not ready for the challenges of the NBA directly from high school. The longer a student-athlete stays in college, the better prepared he is for the challenges ahead.
Always a harsh critic of officiating, Huggins grumbled that officials do what ever they want without regard to the rule book—that they’ve become television celebrities. “The best officials are the ones you don’t remember after the game.” He was especially critical of officials who call shooting fouls, describing them as “orgasmic” when they get to motion “and one”…. “it’s like sex to them.”
Huggins feels the NCAA is not operating in the best interest of the student-athlete. “Because of the television schedule, we start a road game at 9pm and arrive back on campus at 5am…..is that fair to the student-athlete?….the hard part is telling the players that you better be in an 8am class….I don’t think colleges should take the kind of money they take from television and let television run everything.”
Throughout his talk, Huggins repeatedly told his audience that he was “just being honest.” It was the understatement of the year by one of college basketball’s best coaches.
