Photo Credit: AP
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — After being forced to resign from his position as the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers, Bob Huggins has maintained a relatively low profile. He appears weekly on a statewide podcast and can occasionally be seen attending West Virginia basketball games, but otherwise we really haven’t heard much from him since his embarrassing DUI arrest in Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania over the summer.
Huggins, 70, has said that he misses coaching and wants to coach basketball, but ultimately it’s extremely unlikely that West Virginia University will ever re-hire him. He comes with far too much baggage and the hire would be too divisive among the fanbase. However, Huggins is a very respected head coach, is one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history, and is a Hall of Famer. With that, his name will come up in coaching searches.
Today, DePaul fired 3rd-year men’s basketball coach Tony Stubblefield. Stubblefield finished with a record of 28-54 (.341). The program will now conduct a search for its next head coach and Bob Huggins’ name has already popped up as a potential candidate on social media. One analyst, Steve Lappas, a CBS Sports Basketball Analyst and former Manhattan, Villanova and UMass coach, believes that Huggins could be the perfect fit at DePaul.
“Just like St. John’s hired the only coach they could get to get the program right, so is DePaul in a similar situation,” Lappas said. “All the names mentioned are terrific coaches, but only one guy can for sure get them right! First call for me is Bob Huggins! Very similar to hiring of Pitino. The only lock!”
It’s unclear if Huggins would be interested in taking this job, but he has expressed interest in getting back into coaching if the right opportunity presents itself. DePaul is located in Chicago, Illinois and is a Catholic university. Before Huggins resigned from West Virginia, he got into hot water when he referred to Xavier fans as “Catholic f**s” during a radio interview.
Just like St Johns hired the only Coach they could 2 get the program right so is DePaul in a similar situation. All the names mentioned r terrific coaches but only 1 guy can for sure get them right!! First call for me Bob Huggins! Very similar 2 hiring of Pitino. The only lock!
— Steve Lappas (@stlappas) January 22, 2024
