RE: Cincinnati Enquirer fails again to give Coach Huggins his due

[Dan Marshall]

I'm tired of people telling me this... "Forget for a minute Nancy Zimpher
vs. Bob Huggins for the heavyweight championship of Cincinnati. "
 
No, I will not forget about it... why won't they write about it.  What is up
with the Enquirer... I mean really, not ONE report that there was booing
during the celebration was reported.  That isn't news?  They're a joke.

  _____  

From: jon breiner [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 9:18 AM
To: address@hidden
Subject: Re: [UC Basketball] Cincinnati Enquirer fails again to give Coach
Huggins his due


In response to this and Richard's earlier message, I thought I would share a
few thoughts.
 
While I am more inclined to agree with Lonnie Wheeler, both he and Paul D.
are wrong, but have some truth.  The thing is they are either ignoring or
failing to recognize the contributions the other Bob made in their articles
of the past 2 days.
 
I agree both men played a role, and it is not as simple as to say Huggins
did it all or Goin did it all or it could not have been done without
Huggins, etc.  In my opinion they both deserve equal credit.  Without
Huggins, Goin likely would have not been at the table to talk.  We can talk
all we want about academics or football or whatever, but to be blunt, if
this was 1987, even assuming Goin could have been our AD then, there is
little chance the BigEast is interested in us.  Huggins built the basketball
program into such a place that the Big East was willing to listen to what UC
had to offer.
 
But Goin's role was equally large.  There were many schools who wanted to go
in a different direction, and even us most ardent Huggins supporters will
acknowledge the chinks in his armor (although immediately afterwards will
remind folks about how special the armor still is!).  He had to sell
everything, and this is the part of the article I thought Paul D. excelled
on.  Huggins might have helped Goin get to the door, but Goin had a decent
amount of work left to do and did it.  I do not think it is as cut and dry
as some might believe.  To fully appreciate what Goin did, picture a news
conference in Chicago in October where it was just announced that UC is
supposed to compete with UAB for the CUSA title this year.  Wow, look at
that schedule with Tulane and So. Miss still on it!  :)
 
The one person who may have done a decent job in her role, but I give little
credit to is Zimpher.  Maybe I am a bit naive here, but I think any school
president should be able to come in and talk up the programs and academics
and explain why they are good.  She is good at sharing her vision, and while
important, I will never believe that her role carried any weight near what
the Bob's did.  I have no idea who the 2nd choice candidate was when Zimpher
was hired, but my belief is that person would have done equally as well in
that role.  I do not believe that any other basketball coach or AD would
have.  In my mind it is that simple.
 
Finally, as for Doc not giving Huggins his due, c'mon.  It would be the
first time!  I like Doc (it was a pleasure to meet him at Max's draft
party), I like his articles, but he is not a Huggins fan and has publicly
admitted it.  He is a very good writer though (even when I disagree with
him!).  His biggest failing is that he is a bit pretentious.
 
Anyway, those are some of my Sunday morning thoughts, FWIW.
 
Jon
 
ps.  If I had to give % breakdowns I'd say Bob H. 45%, Bob G. 45%, Zimpher
10%.  While I think someone else could have done Zimpher's role, you have to
acknowledge she did it and did it well.
 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Keith Wedinger <mailto:address@hidden>  
To: address@hidden 
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 8:43 AM
Subject: [UC Basketball] Cincinnati Enquirer fails again to give Coach
Huggins his due

Read this first:
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050703/COL03/507030353
/1082/SPT

I will not deny for one second that Bob Goin was instrumental in getting UC
into the Big East.  However, his dealings with donors and the Big East would
not be possible without the success of the basketball team.  You simply
cannot play this high stakes poker game without having the cards.
Fortunately for Bob Goin, Bob Huggins and his basketball team provided Bob
Goin with most of his good cards.  The football team gave Bob Goin the ace
kicker.

-- 
Keith Wedinger
Bearcatnews.com
Sciotofootball.com
I Support Coach Bob Huggins!