Davison: Huggins departure bad news for Kansas

Leaving for West Virginia brings down Big 12

By Drew Davison

Friday, April 6, 2007

Bob Huggins said goodbye to Kansas State basketball Thursday afternoon, after taking the head coaching job at his alma mater West Virginia.

K-State athletics director Tim Weiser was obviously disappointed as he held a press conference to discuss the men’s basketball program.

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After one season, Huggins jolted the Wildcat nation to go back to his hometown of Morganstown. You can’t blame a guy for wanting to go home, but this obviously was not the right time.

“It was more of a, ‘Hey, I’m leaving,’ ” Weiser said.

Huggins left on a completely different note than what he was welcomed with. K-State laid out the red carpet for Huggins after he was fired from Cincinnati. Heck, they even started calling the downtown district “Huggieville.”

They nearly sold-out every game at Bramlage Coliseum for him. There was a rejuvenated feeling at Bramlage for the first time in a long time, especially when Kansas played there on Big Monday in February.

Weiser was asked whether he felt betrayed that Huggins left and, without hesitation, said, “certainly.”

“This was not the time or place,” Weiser continually said during his press conference.

After one season, Huggins jolted the Wildcat nation to go back to his hometown of Morganstown. You can’t blame a guy for wanting to go home, but this obviously was not the right time.

I never thought Huggins would be at K-State for more than five years, but he is potentially leaving the No. 1 high school player, Michael Beasley, and highly touted Bill Walker, who played at K-State last season before he was injured. Yes, West Virginia is Huggins’ alma mater, but how do you leave that on the table?

Beasley could get out of his letter of intent and follow Huggins to become a Mountaineer, but Walker would have to sit out an entire season before he could play if he chooses to transfer.

With the entire coaching carousel going on this offseason, I would not have thought that when John Beilein, West Virginia coach, bolted for the Michigan job in Ann Arbor, Huggins would leave Kansas State.

I like coaches that are dedicated to getting the job done. Dana Altman, even though he took the job at Arkansas, realized Creighton was the program he built and returned. Same with Billy Donovan staying at Florida instead of tradition-rich Kentucky. But, let’s be honest, Huggins isn’t that type of coach.

He recruited Beasley without the NCAA rules overlooking him — and K-State fans loved him for it. How else would a No. 1 recruit choose Manhattan? In a way, K-State fans knew that Huggins was not the most admirable character guy, so it shouldn’t come as that big of a shoc that he bolted after one season.

But this does not bode well for Kansas.

The Jayhawks and Big 12 conference need a coach like Bob Huggins in its conference to make it back to the elite status. This pretty much guarantees that the Big 12 will still only get four, maybe five, teams in the NCAA tournament. The days when the Big 12 got six walked out the door a few years back, and when it looked like it might get back to that elite status, Huggins leaves.

Kansas coach Bill Self was a supporter of Huggins all season. And for good reason, because coaches want other coaches in their conference to field competitive teams.

Reports on GoPowercat.com mention assistant coach Frank Martin as the leader to become the next head coach — and hold together the top recruiting class in the country. If Martin is able to keep Beasley and Walker in Manhattan it will be miraculous.

But whomever K-State gets to replace Huggins, I’m pretty sure the downtown district will still be Aggieville.

Davison is an Overland Park senior in journalism.

— Edited by Will McCullough

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