MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — Bob Huggins has been away from the sport of college basketball for a couple of years now, but he still wants to get back into the game. Huggins, 71, was forced to resign from West Virginia University following his DUI arrest in Pittsburgh and has kept a rather low profile since then.
However, at an event in Cincinnati this past week, Huggins made it clear that he wants to get back into the sport that he loves. Huggins said the following to the Cincinnati Equirer: “I’m pretty good at what I do. I’ve been pretty good in every place that I’ve been. Every place that I’ve been people call me all the time, to this day. They call and talk, ‘When you coming back? When are we going to see you?’. I think I’ve done the right things. I’ve been good to people. I’ve been good to where I’ve been and I’ve been really good to our guys. Look at what our guys are doing. Look at the guys we put in the NBA. Look at our guys that are extremely successful in the workplace.”
When asked if he thinks he can deal with the challenges of NIL in today’s game, Huggins said, “You do understand I graduated Magna Cum Laude, like the first in my class? I’m not dumb. I’ve been successful because I know what I’m doing. I’ve been very successful in doing what I’m doing. I don’t have at this point in time of my life, a lot of fears.”
Huggins went on to say that although he wants to coach again, he’s waiting for the right opportunity to become available: “I’m not begging anybody for a job. What I’m saying is I’d like to help young people. That’s been what I’ve been my whole life. My dad had a camp, I worked the camp night and day with young people. I go from there to Walsh College, to University of Akron to Cincinnati. I’ve been successful everywhere I’ve ever been. How can anyone not take a shot at that? I’ve been successful every single place I’ve ever been. And, my guys love me and they come back. They consistently, constantly come back.”
Huggins routinely appears at West Virginia basketball games and WVU’s director of athletics Wren Baker has said that he would like to honor Huggins when the time is right in the future. One thing that is clear is that Bob Huggins misses college basketball and college basketball misses Bob Huggins.
