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NCAA Basketball: Top 10 National Coach of the Year candidates for 2020-21

By Benjamin Zacher

COLLEGE PARK, MD - DECEMBER 31: Head coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines watches the game against the Maryland Terrapins at Xfinity Center on December 31, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - DECEMBER 31: Head coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines watches the game against the Maryland Terrapins at Xfinity Center on December 31, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images) /
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NCAA Basketball Bob Huggins West Virginia Mountaineers (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images)
NCAA Basketball Bob Huggins West Virginia Mountaineers (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images) /

10. Bob Huggins (#10 West Virginia)

  • 2020-21 record: 16-6 overall, 9-4 Big 12

There are not many prolific coaches who have had to change their team’s style of play midway through the season, but that is exactly what Bob Huggins was forced to do at the flip of the calendar year – and somehow, the Mountaineers are even better than anticipated.

West Virginia entered the season fresh off a 21-10 campaign last year, where they placed as high as 12th nationally before dropping six of their final nine games to close the season.  The return of the two-man post tandem of Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver – arguably, the most highly touted frontcourt in college basketball – subsided any possible discouragement, however, as the Mountaineers began the 2020-21 season third in the preseason Big 12 poll and 15th nationally.

The Mountaineers appeared primed to be a national force, opening the year by winning the Crossover Classic – which included victories over VCU and Western Kentucky – and dropping a five-point game to top-ranked Gonzaga, being, to date, the only team to lose to the undefeated Bulldogs by single-digits.

But the start of Big 12 play yielded a different outcome, with West Virginia scraping by Iowa State before being dismantled at Kansas.  Then, just days after WVU’s final game of 2020, Tshiebwe left – and eventually transferred out.  What followed was a four-point loss at Oklahoma, in a game where the Mountaineers faced as large as an 18-point deficit.

The exact same thing nearly happened in West Virginia’s following game at Oklahoma State, with West Virginia trailing by 19 points with just 11 minutes left to play – but a shift to Huggins’ well-renowned Press Virginia style, consisting of a four-guard lineup with Culver inside, spearheaded a 38-16 run to close the game and escape with a three-point win.

Since that win against the Cowboys – and with a new style of play, adopted halfway through the season – the Mountaineers have gone 7-3, with a sweep over Texas Tech, a 12-point rout of Kansas, and a come-from-behind nailbiting victory at Texas.  Now, West Virginia sits fourth in an extremely competitive Big 12, just two and a half games back of first place.

In what has been an illustrious career at West Virginia, this may – arguably – be Huggins’ best coaching job yet, or at least alongside the Final Four run back in 2009-10.  The Mountaineers own a top-ten efficient offense and rank in the top 50 in forcing turnovers (percentage), offensive rebounding percentage, and three-point percentage.  And, if not for Baylor’s Jared Butler, Huggins would most likely feature the Big 12’s Player of the Year in Miles McBride.

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