The Huggins Effect
Wow. What a difference 24 hours can make. It seems like only yesterday the thought of K-State attempting to hire a big name coach such as Bob Huggins seemed nearly impossible.
Wooldridge had been let go abruptly and the rumors and questions started. Who would be the successor? Mid-major team’s coaches were getting tossed out like they were going out of style. Some people were saying Matt Doherty, some were saying Mike Davis, others even thought about Lon Krugar, Mike Evans and Rolando Blackman. There were even some that began to talk of a more ambitious hire — Bob Huggins.
I first started thinking it may be a possiblity when I read a quote from Tim Wieser regarding the search for K-State’s 21st head basketball coach. Tim said something to the effect of not letting the fans influence the search that was taking place. This was obviously a response to sites like Hire Huggy, and the fans that were screaming for Weiser to go after Huggins. At first I thought he was directly making a statement that he would not pursue Huggins. Then, I thought, maybe he made that statement because Huggins was his top candidate, and wanted to make sure everyone knew it was his call…his decision.
Whatever his motivations were, one thing was for sure. This was the most frustrating coaching search in the history of coaching searches. Maybe it was because we had no details, no warning. Or maybe it was because this was such an important decision. K-State basketball had fallen from grace big time and we needed the right coach at the right time — desperately.
Weiser made the right call. He got the right coach at the right time. Wildcat fans, we are all going to hear about how we are trying to “win at any cost” and that Huggins only wins by recruiting players no one else would touch. Don’t listen to the hype. Huggins cares about helping young people become better basketball players and individuals. The media try to portray him in a different light because it sells. It gives plenty of excuses to fans of schools that are use to watching a wildcat team that has a reputation for not winning. K-State will win, K-State will beat your team, you will have to make excuses.
My point is: it is amazing that you can go through 24 hours and have everything change. One day, we are a program with an amazing past and no future. The next day, it feels like 1988 all over again. We are getting visits from some of the top players in the country, major media are predicting huge strides, we are going to be playing some of the best teams in the country–NON CONFERENCE. How long has it been since we could say any of that?