West Virginia Basketball’s Bob Huggins joins the “900-win club”
Today was a great day to be a Mountaineer as West Virginia Basketball knocked off 14th seed Morehead State by a score of 84 – 67 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. WVU not only advanced to continue their season but they also got Bob Huggins his 900th career win as a head coach in the NCAA.
The Mountaineers now make their 13th appearance in the NCAA second round to play Syracuse this Sunday.
However, today is a celebration of one of the greatest coaches to ever step on the court. Huggins will no doubt be known as the best coach in the history of the Cincinnati and West Virginia basketball programs but also arguably one of the coaches of our time that changed college basketball. To celebrate Huggy getting his 900th win here’s a little bio on the man himself and some highlights from his over 40-year career in college basketball.
Baby “huggy bear” was actually born in Morgantown, West Virginia back in 1953. Eventually moved to Ohio and played high school ball up there for his dad who was a legendary high school basketball coach in the state for 20 years. There was definitely a passion for basketball that ran in the family.
Bob Huggins went to Ohio University and then transferred to West Virginia University after his freshman year to go on and play three seasons for the Mountaineers. Following that he stayed on the team as a grad assistant in 77 which officially kicked off his coaching career.
After a season on the bench as a GA with the Mountaineers he went to Ohio State to be an assistant coach for a couple of years. Huggins then accepted his first head coaching job at the age of 27 in 1980 for Walsh College. He ended up with 71 wins there in three seasons.
Went back to an assistant role in the 83-84 season with UCF then accepted his 2nd head coaching job in 84. This time with U of Akron where he was there until 89, had 97 wins and took the Zips to the 85-86 tournament.
Became the head coach of Cincinnati in 89 and went on to be the winningest coach in school history. 399 wins, a Sweet 16 appearance in 01, elite 8 runs in 93 and 96, and a final four in 92. The Bearcats won five straight conference tourney titles from 92-96, won three more conference tourney titles with coach Huggins there, and 10 total regular-season conference titles under Bob Huggins.
Despite 18 conference titles, 14 NCAA tournament bids, and being named ESPN’s national coach of the year in 02, Huggins was forced to resign from Cincinnati in 05. He then became head coach for the Kansas State Wildcats for one season where he had 23 wins.