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NCAA Basketball: Stevens, Huggins among top head coaching hires of 2007

By Joey Loose

COLLEGE PARK, MD - MARCH 03: Head coach Mark Turgeon of the Maryland Terrapins and John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines shake hands after a college basketball game at the XFinity Center on March 3, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - MARCH 03: Head coach Mark Turgeon of the Maryland Terrapins and John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines shake hands after a college basketball game at the XFinity Center on March 3, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/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) /

4. Bob Huggins (West Virginia)

After some fantastic basketball the last few seasons, John Beilein departed West Virginia to take the head coaching job at Michigan. West Virginia had had some significant struggles before Beilein’s arrival and it was fair to say that their next head coaching hire was important. Not only would they need to maintain the momentum, but winning in the Big East wasn’t easy these days.

Bob Huggins was already a fantastic coach by the time he returned to West Virginia. Himself a Mountaineer during his playing career, he spent time as an assistant and head coach at some smaller schools before being hired at Cincinnati back in 1989. He took the Bearcats to the Final Four before an unceremonious departure. After one season at Kansas State, Huggins was ready to return home and run this Mountaineers program his way.

Huggins’ work with West Virginia has been fantastic and was highlighted quickly by a Final Four trip in his third season. He’s led the Mountaineers to ten NCAA Tournaments, with at least five of those runs reaching at least the Sweet Sixteen. West Virginia has smoothly transitioned to the Big 12 and finished top 3 in that tough league in six of the last seven years. Huggins is a legend of the game and is the reason West Virginia basketball is what it is today.

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