Bob Huggins has made remarkable achievements throughout his coaching career, resulting in him becoming a household name in the basketball fraternity. His success has ranked him among one of the most successful basketball coaches, having won more than 935 games. But, who is Bob Huggins?
Bob Edward Huggins is a college American basketball coach professionally known as Bob Huggins or “Huggy Bear”. His career as a coach began in 1977. Bob has coached great teams such as West Virginia, Kansas City, Walsh, Akron and Cincinnati. In 2022, Bob was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Bob Huggins Profile summary
| Full Name Full | Bob Edward Huggins |
| Place of birth | Morgantown, West Virginia, United States |
| Date of birth | September 21, 1953 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Indian Valley High School Ohio University West Virginia University |
| Spouse | June Huggins |
| Children | Jenna Leigh Huggins and Jacqcuiline Huggin |
| Weight | 50 pounds |
| Height | 1.91m |
| Net worth | $12 million |
| @coachbhuggs | |
| @CoachHuggs |
Who is Bob Huggins?
Bob Huggins is a well known basketball college coach in America. He has built an appealing portfolio as a coach with more than 900 career victories and ranked number six in the men’s college basketball. He has attended 24 NCAA and in the last 26 seasons, he has attended 23 tournaments.
Bob has been committed to his career. In each team that he has coached, all have attended four Elite Eight appearances, two Final Four appearances and nine Sweet Sixteen appearances.
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Bob Huggins playing career
Bob began his playing career in Port Washington, Ohio and he played basketball for his father. His fathers name is Charles and Bob played at Indian Valley South High School. His game during that time was recomendable since together with his team they went to 26-0 season.
He was a great pick by the state in the consecutive three years and was recognized in 1972 as the Ohio Player. Bob marked history at Ohio back then by exiting highschool with 2,438 points.
He enrolled at Ohio University and later shifted schools to West Virginia.
While in Virginia he joined the basketball team called Mountaineers and played as a point guard. Huggins played for 2 years from 1975 to 1977. He had a total of 800 career points as a senior in the three seasons and 13.2 points.
Bob graduated with two majors in Education and Physical Education from West Virginia University. He furthered his studies and graduated with a masters in Health Administration from the same institution.
When did Bob Huggins begin his early coaching career
Bob began his coaching career in 1977 after graduating. Bob served as an assistant to Eldon Miller at Ohio State University for a period of 2 years. He was employed as the head coach at Walsh University at the age of 27 in 1980.
He led Walsh to victory with a record of 71-26 and earned an honor of NAIA District 22 Coach of the Year two times. Bob also served as an assistant coach at University of Central Florida from the 1983 to 1984 season. Bob was appointed as the University of Akron’s head coach. Huggins accumulated a record of 97-46.
Coach Bob Huggins in Cincinnati
Bob Huggins was the head coach for Cincinnati Bearcats from 1989 to 2005. He had a positive impact to the team considering that in the past years, the team had not been invited to NCAA tournaments. With his presence in the team, within two years Bearcats got invited to NIT and advanced to NCAA tournaments as the final in 1977.
Bearcats had appeared in the tournament for 13 seasons, but this was their first time to be a part of the NCAA tournament. He stayed for 16 years at Bearcats. Bob had a record of 399-172 and was recognized as a succesful coach within the school for a period of time. He led the team to eight league tournament titles and ten conference regular season titles.
While in Bearcats, he took home the Conference USA Coach Award of the Year three times in 1997-1998, 1998-1999, 1999-2000. Due to his dedication to his team and leading them to greater heights, ESPN.com in 2001-2002 appointed him as the Coach of the Year. Bob was also recognized as Basketball Times national Coach of the Year in 1997-1998.
Parting ways from Cincinnati through resignation
Bob resigned from the University of Cincinnati in August 2005. He coached the team for 16 years. Bob made a 398-128 record for the team. He resigned after one year of the incident that happened to him on Driving Under the Influence.
Coaching Kansas state
After he resigned from Cincinnati, he took a one year break from coaching. Bob later accepted an offer as the head coach at Kansas State University. He coached the Wildcats and led them to a record of 23-12 and also 10-6 Big 12 record. With the help of Bob, the Wildcats won a game at the NIT tournament.
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West Virginia contract
Bob was appointed as the head coach of the Mountaineers at West Virginia. He signed a contract to work for them from 2007 till date. He summed up a total of 345 coaching wins with the team. Bob is behind Galle Catlett who has the most wins.
Achievements
Bob has achieved remarkable rewards that he is proud of throughout his coaching career. He has won 935 games as a college coach. He took home the Conference USA Coach Award of the Year three times in 1997-1998, 1998-1999 and 1999-2000, while with the Bearcats. ESPN.com in 2001-2002 appointed him as the Coach of the Year. Bob was also recognized as Basketball Times national Coach of the Year in 1997-1998.
Big East season in 2007 up to 2012
Bob Huggins signed a five-year contract on April 5, 2007 as the head coach for West Virginia University. He took over the position that was held by John Beilein, who went to coach the Michigan Wolverines. Bob was in search of a small forward for the team and on May 18, 2008, he closed the search after finding Devin Ebanks.
Mountaineers managed to reach the third round during the 2010-2011 season, in the NCAA tournament. They were defeated by Kentucky with a record of 71-63.
Big 12 season in 2012 to 2023
The Mountaineers first appearance in the Big 12 Conference was in the 2012-2013 season. This season as described by Bob, lots of caution was taken such as high quality opponents and increased travel documents. The seasons commenced till 2023 but in 2021, in the NCAA tournament, West Virginia won over Morehead State. The win marked Bob’s 900th career victory.
What offensive remarks did Bob Huggins make?
Bob used offensive remarks when he was expressing himself about Xavier fans on a radio show in Cincinnati, Bill Cunningham show. He communicated anti-Catholic sentiments and also used homophobic insults. The remarks caused lots of speculation and others chanted that he should resign.
Bob Huggins Arrest
Bob Huggins was again arrested for the second time on June 16, 2023 with DUI offense in Pittsburgh. Bags of empty alcohol cans were found at the back of his car. The police officers took an alcoholic test on him that detected alcohol in his bloodstream with a 0.21 percentage. This had exceeded the normal limit of 0.08%.
Bob Huggins resignation and retirement
Bob Huggins came out clear that he did not resign as West Virginia basketball coach. Bob stated he stepped down for a while following his arrest on driving while drunk. Bob is still active as West Virginia’s coach.
What happened to coach Bob Huggins broadcasting career
Bob was the host of a talk show called Bob Huggins Show. The show was produced by Blue Nation and Gold. The show was a collaboration between WBOY TV and WVU Athletics. He left WVU as the head coach and got associated with Full Court Press. Full Court Press is presented by HD Media and talks about WVU basketball.
Personal life of Bob Hugginns
Bob Huggins is a married man to June Huggins. The two have two daughters, Jenna Leigh Huggins and Jacqcuiline Huggins. Members of Huggins’ family have a tendency of getting heart attacks. For instance, his dad at the age of 40 experienced a heart attack and also Huggins is a victim of experiencing a heart attack.
Bob’s income had an increment of $25,000 for every win that he led WVU team against Kansas. The amount earned he gave out to the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund.
Fast facts about Bob Huggins
Who is West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins? Bob Huggins is an American college basketball coach.
When did Bob Huggins resign? He stepped down as WVU coach but did not resign. He is still considered as WVU coach.
Does Bob Huggins want to get back on the sidelines? He made it clear that he wanted to get back to the sidelines in an interview with KDKA-TV CBS.
Did Bob Huggins apologize for using a slur? He apologized to Xavier for using homophobic slur.
Bob Huggins is a college American basketball coach. He resigned from Cincinnati one year after the incident that happened to him on Driving Under the Influence. Bob has accomplished great achievements in his basketball coaching career. He has won 345 games as WVU coach.
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