“Yes, K-State gave Huggins an opportunity to revive his career. But here’s the other side of the coin: Huggins gave Kansas State an opportunity to revive a long-dormant program. In the long run K-State should get more out of this one season than Huggins ever will. He’s got his career back, but KSU has its program back.”
I agree 100%. I hope I don’t have to hear my K-State fan friends and family whining over how Huggins is a jerk after the defended him so vehemently when he was hired. Huggings got you back on the map, and got you two great recruits. Let’s see what you can do with it, Wildcats.
http://www.lawrence.com/blogs/all_wrist/2007/apr/05/040507wrist/
001 // Chris // 04.05.2007 // 6:38 PM
As a West Virginia native and grad, I can only assure you that the pull from that school, and more importantly that state, is some mighty ju-ju. It’s a tough thing to turn your back on when it comes calling.
And you’re right: In his one year there, he put K-State on the basketball map. Now they just need to find the right coach to keep them on that map.
002 // Ryan Berg // 04.05.2007 // 7:12 PM
Unless, of course, Huggins’ latest recruits want out from their letters of intent to play at K-State. I’m curious to see how this plays out. You certainly can’t blame the guy for bolting at his first chance to head back to his alma mater.
003 // Jeff Croft // 04.05.2007 // 7:22 PM
There’s definitely a possibility of them wanting to bolt, I’d say — but I don’t see K-State letting that happen.
004 // Shawn // 04.06.2007 // 8:50 AM
Ok, several points here.
Your right, we defended him, adopted him, adding facilities, adding sweats, bought tickets, bought shirts, bought in. What does he do? Bolts on all of that.
These recruits came to K-State to be with Bob, he made promises to them, told them he wants to win championships with them. What does he do? Leaves them in the lurch. K-State says it won’t release them from their LOI’s until a new coach is hired. We will be lucky to keep half of them if we can keep the assistants. It is also reported that Huggins has already contacted some of the recruits to join him in WV.
Even if we don’t release them, there are ways out of LOI. Plus Beasley could just go JUCO, or sit for a year then be a top 10 pick next year.
Bill Walker graduated High school early to come to K-State to play for Bob. Now his mentor is gone. Reportedly ripped down all the “Loyalty”, “Commitment” posters in the locker room.
I’m not sure how we are back on the map. We didn’t beat KU, we didn’t go to the NCAA Tournament, and as I’ve stated that recruiting class is confused, upset, and looking at options.
I hate you Bob Huggins.
005 // Jeff Croft // 04.06.2007 // 9:09 AM
Or, you could say that he rewarded K-State’s taking a risk on him by putting them back on the college basketball map, getting them great recruits, and generally setting them up for success. And, he didn’t ever embarrass K-State by driving drunk through Aggieville.
I hope that’s not true — I’ll call bulls—t on that if it turns out to be. Until then, K-State is making the right move by holding onto their recruits for now. They can figure out what to do once they hve a new coach in place.
K-State was two wins shy of it’s school record this year. And you certainly gained back a lot of respect from the rest of the Big 12. No, you didn’t beat KU, but KU was a top ten team all year long. Expecting K-State to beat KU this year is an unreasonable demand.
Trust me, in a couple years you’ll be saying the same thing all the KU fans that whined with Roy left are now saying: “Bob who?” And, as it is with Roy Williams, that will be a sad thing. Because while it’s nice that you won’t be hateful toward Huggins, you also won’t have remembered everything he did for K-State in a year of being there.
Then again, maybe I’m biased because I worked for K-State for a year and a half before leaving and would like to feel like I did some good while I was there. :)
006 // Matthew Croft // 04.06.2007 // 11:14 AM
I agree with what you saying. Huggins was good for Kansas State. He gave us a year that no other coach could have. We owe him some credit however; I have lost all respect for the man.
We were the only major program in the country who was willing to take a chance on him. We embraced him—the good and the bad. Every one of us defended him to high heaven, and how does he repay us? One of the major reasons we didn’t make the tournament was our schedule. Bob kept saying, “I believe in honoring contracts” referring to the contracts we had with small (very low RPI teams). I believe this makes him a hypocrite.
Not only did he slap the university in the face, he slapped his players in the face. Beasly is not who I am talking about. What about Jason Bennet, Ryan Patswald, Blake Young, and others? They all came because of him. Why would a new recruit trust him?
Anyway, there isn’t much reason for us to dwell on what could have been. I don’t want a coach for doesn’t want to be here. I just hope the university is committed to finding a coach who will be loyal to the University and the town.
007 // Jeff Croft // 04.06.2007 // 11:30 AM
Yeah, but can’t you turn that around and also say that he was the only big name coach in the country that was willing to take a chance on K-State? Didn’t he also give K-State a second chance, just like it gave him one? It’s not as if K-State had big name coaches fighting over themselves to coach there.
At least part of the blame has to go on the players here. If they came to K-State exclusivley because Bob Huggins was there, that was stupid. Every player knows he’s signing of a Letter of Intent with the school, not with the coach. Every player knows that coaches move around every off-season.
I understand that the players came to K-State in part because of Huggins, and it’s a bummer for them that he’s gone. But they have to understand when they sign on that there is no guarentee that Huggins will stay there.
I took the job I have now in large part because I wanted to work with Wilson Miner. About six months into my job, Wilson left. I could leave to, because of that, but I think that would be messed up. I agreed to work here, partially because of Wilson. I didn’t agree to work with Wilson, partially because of The Lawrence Journal-World. I agree to work here, not wherever Wilson is. And it’s the sme way for these players. They agreed to play at K-State. They didn’t agree to play whereever Huggins goes.
Mostly, I just think K-State needs to remember where it came from. A year ago, no one wanted to coach there, especially not someone on Huggins’ level. He gave K-State a second chance just as much as K-State gave him one. And he didn’t fail you. Instead, he set you up in a situation where Manhattan is now actually probably a pretty attractive destination for a coach — even a pretty good one.
I’m not sure he slapped you in the face. Instead, he came in, did a great job, and then left.
I understand this feeling. It’s the same way us KU fans felt when Roy let. Certainly it’s human to feel a bit of animosity, and that’s fine. But we KU fans need to remember all that Roy did for us. Even though he’s gone now and most of us wouldn’t want him back, he still played a vital role in the history of KU basketball.
And, if another coach comes in and continues the progression Huggins has started at K-State, making them compeitive in the Big 12 and a regular NCAA-goer, you’d have to say that Huggins also played a vital role there in Manhattan.