It was the end of the 2001-2002 season. The future of Bob Huggins with the Cincinnati Bearcats was up in the air.
Mick Cronin was told by an assistant close to the Cincinnati coach, that Huggins was ready to head back down that country road to his home and coach the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Knowing he would not be named the Bearcats next coach, Mick Cronin had to make an agonizing decision: stay with Cincinnati and risk losing a job or take another job offer elsewhere.
He chose the latter.
No one can blame him for the decision he made to leave. Everyone thought Huggins was heading to West Virginia, including himself.
Huggy-Bear changed his mind late. He wanted to stay in the Queen City.
The decision was made too late, however, for Cronin. The '97 UC graduate decided to leave the program. He was just being a professional. He was just trying to climb the coaching ladder.
Then, on came the dogs, or perhaps, the birds.
It was not the decision to leave that angered Huggins and many Bearcat fans. It was the choice of going south to Louisville, to join Rick Pitino as an assistant coach for the Cardinals: a long-time conference rival of the Cats.
Ever since, tension has boiled over between the two. Although both dance around the questions concerning their relationship, it is evident that, well, they are not too fond of each other.
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The rest is history. Cronin is noted nationwide as the NCAA's best assistant coach with Louisville. He then takes the head coaching job at Murray State, leading them to two NCAA Tournament appearances in three seasons.
Huggins, on the other side of the spectrum, was disliked by new UC President Nancy Zimpher. A couple athletes in trouble, plus an embarrassing DUI led to his untimely firing, leaving his beloved program in the most impossible situation. A year later, he took the job in Manhattan, Kansas, as head coach at Kansas State.
Manhattan was livid. A packed house showed up for his first press conference. Purple "Huggy-Bear" shirts were sold on every street corner in the entire town. The former Bearcats coach had found a new home. A home that appreciated is superior coaching ability.
Then, before he could even lead the university to an NCAA Tournament, he left.
So, how can Huggins blame Cronin for leaving? Mick was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
This blame is coming from a man who took a giant chunk out of the "Little Apple" when he abandoned Kansas State for his alma-mater West Virginia. We went from being in the Little Apple Hall of Fame, to the Hall of Hate. He went from loved to despised.
Some can say Mick went to Louisville for selfish reasons. With Huggins, not just some, but all will say Huggins went back home for selfish reasons. He knew it was his last chance to do so.
Now, both are exactly where they want to be. Both are at their alma-maters. Both are at a place where they could coach forever.
It just goes to show that everything happens for a reason.
If anything, the two should be proud for each other. Huggins developed Cronin into a fine basketball coach. Cronin recruited Huggins some of the best players he ever coached.
Tonight, their teams will square off in Morgantown, West Virginia, in front of the national audience on ESPN.
One has to believe the players understand the magnitude of this meeting, because it is off the charts.
Cronin, already having taken down former mentor Rick Pitino, will look for his Bearcats (9-11, 4-3) to do just the same to Huggins' Mountaineers (15-5, 4-3).
As entertaining as this game may be with all the story lines, history, and drama, the thing I will be most watching for is the pregame handshake, or even a nice little pregame hug.
For the blind Bearcat fan, it may be an awful reminder of what transpired over the last five seasons.
But for the true faithful, it will be fun to watch Huggins jump up and down on the sideline, or even chase referees to the locker room. But most of all, it will be entertaining to watch little Mick Cronin to continue to lead his Bearcats to big places.
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7 months ago
You need to find some new sources or just give up writing altogether.
Outside of his own father, Mick probably loves and respects no one in the coaching business more so than Bob Huggins. If you're going to make a retarded claim such as "they are not too fond of each other" you might want to back that shit up with some solid facts or citations. Shit, just read the fuckin' Cincinnati Enquirer from this week alone and you're stupid claims are blown to shit:
1. "I wouldn't be here without Coach Huggins," Cronin said.
2. There was a strain in their relationship when Cronin, who was then an assistant coach, left UC to become Rick Pitino's associate head coach at Louisville in 2001. But Cronin says that's all in the past, that he and Huggins get along fine now.
"When you've been through the fire with somebody..." Cronin said, "there was a lot of turmoil over my departure to Louisville, but he and I have gone way past that."
3. For his part, Huggins compliments Cronin on the job he's done in rebuilding the UC program that was decimated when Huggins and UC parted ways in August 2005.
"I think he's done a heck of a job," Huggins said. "To get it turned around the way he's got it turned around this year is harder than people realize."
4. Cronin says there's not enough time for him to detail all that he learned from Huggins. The bottom line, he said, was that Huggins taught him how to win.
God I hate your articles.
7 months ago
Only if you knew...
If you do not like my articles no one makes you read them.
7 months ago
yeah, only if i knew what some fuckin' high school dipshit without a clue knows.
back up your shit or don't say shit.
7 months ago
As a writer, if my source wants to be anonymous, there is not much I can do about it. But Ill bet the house its as good as any other source out there.
Just don't read it. Spare me and everyone else. Write your own articles. With your own sources. Because clearly you know more than me.
7 months ago
if you even had a fuckin' source anyone gave a shit about, you'd at least have mentioned that shit in the article like everyone else on the planet does - you're full of shit and in fuckin' high school - you have no credible "source" you fuckin' bitch. you know jack shit about uc basketball and what mick thinks of huggs and vice versa. why don't you let us in on some other juicy gossip that nobody else in the world knows about besides your "confidential source" - blow us away.
from 7 months ago
u are very well spoken Anonymous (sarcasm included) ...why don't you write your opinion in an article instead of reading every article Who Dey write and take time to bash him.
You obviously look forward to reading what he writes since you are always the first to comment.
Keep up the good work Who Dey. I'm upset WVU got killed as I like WVU but i look forward to an article summarizing the blow out that took place last night.
7 months ago
It might seem like a nice article to outsiders, but it's filled with innaccuracies and baseless opinions. And whenever the kid is asked to back up his statements, he claims to have the same old "anonymous source". This isn't the first time, won't be the last. The kid's like 17 years old and in high school. I have a hard time believing he's got many high-quality anonymous sources in the upper tier of UC's athletic department.
7 months ago
Rod,
No, I don't have any anonymous sources to wow you with. Sorry brah.
The good news, though: the sources needed to dispute this author's innaccuracies are publicly and readily available to anyone that cares to do the slightest bit of honest research.
7 months ago
Why'd the author change his name to "Who Dey"? It's not football season, and all of his article summaries include his real name. I'm confused.
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