It might not be the job that he’s after but former University of Cincinnati and West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins has found employment.
Huggins, who in the past year made disparaging remarks about Xavier, then was charged with a second DUI while in Pittsburgh, will be joining a college basketball show out of Wheeling, West Virginia.
WTRF hosts “Full Court Press” which begins a new season on Nov., 7. According to the station’s post, The former head basketball coach for West Virginia University will draw on his extensive experience and knowledge to provide valuable insights, analysis and exclusive stories.”
The show will be based on West Virginia and Big 12 basketball.
Huggins back on the radio
“I think it’ll be fun,” Huggins said to WTRF.com. “I think that what I can bring to it as well is other coaches. I can call [Kansas coach] Bill Self, and he’ll come on the air with us. [Baylor coach] Scott Drew would as well. They’re all friends of mine. I get calls and texts from those guys virtually every day.”
In the meantime, Huggins has since retracted his resignation and is reportedly seeking his Mountaineer coaching job back.
A post from Morgantown’s VoiceOfMotown.com states such. It should be noted that West Virginia AD Wren Baker only gave former Huggins assistant Josh Eilert the job on an interim basis with a full search to come after the season. Former Huggins player and recent UC staffer DerMarr Johnson is also now at West Virginia.
Could Huggins return to West Virginia?
At Big 12 Media Days in Kansas City, Eilert was introduced as the interim coach.
During his media remarks, Eilert said he was “carrying the torch” and that “it’s not lost on him he’s replacing a Hall of Fame coach.”
Should Huggins attempt to get in the running for his old job for 2024-25, he would have to deal with WVU President Gordon Gee, who has gone on record as saying Huggins would never coach the Mountaineers again. Gee is slated to retire in June 2025.
The Voice of Motown (Morgantown) post quotes former Huggins assistant Frank Martin, now the current coach at Massachusetts.
“He is gonna get back on that saddle. He has not had a drink since that day. One day he’ll speak about exactly what transpired that day. It’s not my place to put that out there. It’s a little more complicated than the story that got put out there by people that just saw the end result and it’s sad that the end of West Virginia happened the way it did.”
The former coach did attend some of the TBT (The Basketball Tournament) games over the summer featuring some of his former Mountaineer players. His former Bearcat players organized a trip to Morgantown to see him after the most recent DUI. One of those, Corie Blount, will be inducted into UC’s Athletic Hall of Fame on Nov. 3.