The short of it is that Huggins and the school president didn't see eye to eye, and she tried to have him fired after his DWI fiasco last year. He came back to coach last season and was told that his option would not be picked after 2007. Because of this Huggins tried to get boosters and alumni to throw their weight that if Huggins wasn't going to be there, that the money would cease coming in. The opposite happened and Huggins believe it or not lost some support after his DWI incident. The other determining factor was the fact that his graduation rate for players flat out sucks. There also have been a number of players that have gotten into trouble with John Q. Law from anything to domestic violence to drug possession. The whole story can be read here: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2142042
Thugs, DWI and poor graduation rate (wasn't it 0% at one point). Not to mention he seems like a grade-A *******. Funny story I heard about when Stanford and Cincinnati met in the NCAA tourney. When the Cincy players werew announced, the Stanford band played Pomp and Circumstance.
I will probably get crucified here but I was and still am a Huggins fan. Yes, he was arrogant at times and I can perfectly understand why he would rub people the wrong way. However, the guy was a winner who made a couple of mistakes. Obviously the DUI was the most serious, but I read that 11 of his last 18 players graduated on time. And the 7 that didn't included some who left school early to go to the NBA as well as a couple who took longer than 4 years to graduate. So, he was making a conscious effort to do better in that regard (it can be argued though that he should have been doing that a long time ago). I think the bottom line is this Zimpher woman had a preconceived notion of how he was and made up in her mind that she didn't like him. Well, I hope doing what she did was worth it to her ego. Not only was this the worst timing (a month before classes start) but to do this as the Bearcats prepare to enter the Big East - a 16 team monster of a league is setting things up for disaster here. I have read that at least one top recruit has already crossed Cincy off his list because of this and the repercussions of this will continue for some time. Personally, I hope Cincy basketball crumbles and its collapse causes this "strong-willed" woman to resign. She is going to rue the day that she fired him - mark my words.
I am curious, Manny, are you just a Huggins' fan or Bearcats' fan? I live and work in Cincy area but I am never a fan of Huggins.
Cincy will drop to obscurity now...one less team to fight for an NCAA birth. Look what happened to Houston when they ran Guy Lewis out....same thing will happen to Cincy. DD
Well Huggins made me a Bearcats fan. However, I am no longer a Bearcats fan - not as long as that Zimpher woman has anything to do with the school.
Isn't it funny how we've listed several significant reasons why Huggins should be fired and this is somehow about "that Zimpher woman's" ego? Huggins did just as much as Bob Knight to get fired without all of those championships, or graduations clouding the water. To me it is simple- if you consistently act like a jerk, don't graduate players, get a DWI, fail to do *anything* in the NCAA tournament and are insubordinate to your boss nobody needs to invent conspiracy theories why you got canned.
It is not a conspiracy theory when you are stating the truth, BMoney. The truth is Zimpher is a "strong-willed" administrator and Huggins really never had a chance as long as she was around. The DUI was the most serious thing he did, IMO as I have already mentioned he had improved the graduation rates. And although I won't deny that Huggins could be a jerk, I know I have heard many stories of how he gave back to the community off the court. And you are right that his teams have consistently done nothing *recently* in the NCAA tournament but there was one final 4 appearance (the Nick Van Exel team) and I believe 2 elite 8 appearances. Sure it is not the greatest but it is better than nothing which is what you implied. All I know is that Cincy had done nothing for years in basketball until this man arrived. He was a consistent winner - period. You may disagree with his methods, which is fine, but you can't disagree with the fact that he never had a losing season there and is the school's all-time winningest coach. So, I will save you the trouble and anyone else by saying that we will have to agree to disagree on Huggins. I think Zimpher made a big mistake here and only time will tell if I am right or wrong here. EDIT - I don't remember ever hearing about Huggins choking one of his players, headbutting another one of his players, throwing chairs out onto the court during the middle of games, cussing out members of the press on the air, etc.
I've been a Bearcats fan, against my better judgement, for 15 years. All my life growing up, I had to root for the good guys. Notre Dame vs. Miami. The Bulls vs. the dirty Pistons or Knicks. The Cardinals vs. the cokeheaded Mets. Anyone who played the Cowboys. I hated it, and I wanted a nasty team to get behind, and UC fit the bill. Huggins knows talent. I sat next to him at a Nike camp in 2000 (hyped with Dajuan Wagner, Tyson Chandler, and Ousmanne Cisse), and he couldn't stop talking on his cell about Amare Stoudemire -- who had played next to no HS hoops by then, and was a year or two younger than Wagner/Chandler/Cisse. He consistently found players that bigger schools didn't want and turned them into all-world talents, like Fortson and Kenyon Martin. Those guys were the second and third best players on their high school teams, and grew into Wooden Award candidates by the end of their run. Dermarr Johnson and Dontonio Wingfield should have met the same fate, had they stayed for more than a year. And yet, he's a pathetic in-game coach. I'll never forget Kelvin Cato dominating Huggins' best team, in 1996, during the tournament. He got to the Final Four in 1992, but kept insisting that Art Long get the ball on a Shaq-esque clear out, when his best move was a jumper off the pick and pop (initiated by one of the best in the world at it -- Nick Van Exel). Every year the team was out after the first week in the tournament, and somehow this was always ignored in favor of ripping on Stanford or Arizona. Those two teams at least had the good sense to make a few Final Fours, but Cincy never did. His graduation rate has gotten a lot better (certainly better than slime like Calipari's), and the arrest record has gone down, but it was time for him to go. UC won't be the same team, and I won't really have a proper badass NCAA team to build me up and let me down, but it was a damn fun run while it lasted.
I thought the same thing when Penders was run out at Texas (and still think Dodds is a major good ole boy butt wipe, but that us another story). Penders turned a football and baseball school into being respectable and dangerous turney making program despite playing in a weak conference. I am not saying Cincy has the same resources, but they have a much more accomplished BB history than UT did prior to Huggins/Penders, and may not slip as much as you think. They just need to the right new guy. BTW I saw Huggins a couple of years ago when they lost in the 1st round versus Zaga in Salt Lake. I think he got thrown out and was acting like a major league a-hole. I was routing for him that game, and generally route for Cincy. I wish Cincy had won that game, because though Arizona survived the next game, I think that Zaga game where they played so brilliantly doomed what should have been a run to the finals for Arizona versus Melo and Cuse. Arizona kind of lost their hunger and focus after Zaga played so well against them, and Kansas brought it and edged in the reginal final. Also, I have the opposite perspective as Kelly. All other things be equal (no other tie) I almost always route for the darker "bad team" (Raiders/Vegas/Cinny/Canes) because the goody too shoes teams (Duke/Hoosiers/ND) are so often full of crap (media, fans, own players) and with double standards galoire. By the way Manny, I have a signature for you: "Welcome to the LaVar and Sean show: Dumberer and Dumbererer Part Trous" I can't recall exactly, but three months will be fine
BMoney hit the nail on the head, Huggins brought all the problems of a Bobby Knight with little tournament success and a piss poor graduation rate. Kelly's also right, the guy knew talent, but his teams consistently underachieved. On Around the Horn last week when this went down, the female sportswriter who's on there sometimes said she always did well in her tournament pool by picking Cincy to get upset.
You never heard of Huggins winning three National Championships or his teams over acheiving in the tournament either.
