Morgantown, West Virginia – The wait is FINALLY over! According to multiple sources, West Virginia’s legendary head coach, Bob Huggins, will be inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame!
Huggins has 914 career wins and is the 4th winningest coach in the history of college basketball.
A formal announcement is expected on Saturday.
Sources: West Virginia iconic head coach Bob Huggins – a collegiate coach for 45 years and two-time NCAA coach of the year – will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame @Hoophall Class of 2022. Formal announcements on Saturday.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 31, 2022
Although Huggins has been nominated several times previously, and many feel that he should have already been inducted, he will finally be honored in the 2022 class.
In 45 years of coaching, Huggins has built an incredible coaching resume, but there are a couple of things that could have prevented him from being inducted previously.
#1 – Huggins is one of only ten coaches in college basketball history with 800 or more victories, he’s been to 24 NCAA tournaments, has led his teams to nine Sweet Sixteen appearances, four in Elite Eights and two Final Fours, but he has never won a national championship, which is ultimately what separates him from Roy Williams, Jim Calhoun, Bob Knight, Jim Boeheim and Coach K.
In addition, while he recently passed Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith in total career win, they both have three national championships between them.
#2 – Although Huggins has led one of the cleanest basketball programs in the nation, his embarrassing dismissal from Cincinnati following a drunk and driving arrest back in 2005 has been a permanent black eye on his otherwise flawless record as a head coach.
A lack of a national championship and the arrest in 2005 are the only two possible explanations for him not being inducted until now. However, numbers don’t lie and Bob Huggins has produced wins better than almost anyone in the history of the game.
With that said, the wait has finally ended and Bob Huggins will officially be a Hall of Famer this year. Congratulations to one of the best to ever do it!
