Big 12 Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches in 2023 after realignment
By Joey Loose
4. Bob Huggins – West Virginia
One of the living legends in the coaching world, Huggins was actually a point guard at West Virginia more than 45 years ago. His successful coaching career has included head coaching stints at Walsh, Akron, Cincinnati, and Kansas State, leading the Bearcats to the Final Four way back in 1992. After an unceremonious dismissal after a ton of success at Cincinnati, he’s bounced back nicely at his alma mater.
Huggins led West Virginia to the Final Four back in 2010, his third season at the helm. He took the Mountaineers into the Big 12 a few years later and they’ve been a successful program for the most part. He’s taken the Mountaineers to five Sweet Sixteens and had them back again in the Big Dance this year after a 19-win campaign.
It’s been a fantastic career for Huggins and it feels wrong to slot him fourth, but that just speaks to the volume of coaching talent in the Big 12 right now. He’s part of a rare breed of coaches to lead multiple schools to the Final Four and he’s kept West Virginia competitive in an ever-changing Big 12, even while the Mountaineers sit well further east than the rest of the league. We don’t know how many more years Huggins will coach, but he’s a force and a legend in this game.