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

[dfairchild]

I'm with Jon B. on this one.  Goin and Huggins deserve the majority of
credit.  I think recalling the 1997 invitation to the Humanitarian Bowl for
the football team is a good example of how Goin was able to use the
basketball program as leverage to advance the whole athletic program and the
University as a whole.

UC was invited to its first bowl game in 47 years because Goin was able to
strike a deal - including sending the UC basketball team to Boise for an
away game!

"Look, it would be easy to dismiss this whole thing as some kind of a bad
joke. UC had to beg and plead and make a deal to send its basketball team
out here to get a bowl bid. And as of Friday, only about 19,000 tickets had
been sold, 2,500 to UC boosters or businesses."
http://www.cincypost.com/sports/1997/koch122797.html

Without the asset of the UC basketball program, it is hard to imagine us
being in the place we are today.  Thank you Coach Huggins.


  -----Original Message-----
  From: richard l. kandell [mailto:address@hidden
  Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 11:39 AM
  To: address@hidden
  Subject: Re: [UC Basketball] Cincinnati Enquirer fails again to give Coach
Huggins his due


  One more comment - I have never said that Huggins was not part of the mix
in creating the cake that was sold to the BEast.  What I believe is that he
was PART of the mix, not the whole batter.  Jon, I'm not sure I agree with
the percentages you assigned, or revised, but they are probably fairly
close.

  Richard K.
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: jon breiner
    To: address@hidden
    Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 9:18 AM
    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
      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!
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