When Bob Huggins’ name started getting kicked around as a potential candidate for the open Cleveland State job, my first reaction was to dismiss it outright. There were two reasons for that. The first was that the last two hires for CSU followed a pattern of selecting an assistant looking to make and name for themselves. Naturally, that’s a mold that Huggins, who’s found success wherever he’s gone, doesn’t fit.
The second reason is that Cleveland State also has a history of picking older coaches with a name and a track record of their own. And those have tended to not end well, and CSU has tended to follow up those with hires that were, to put it nicely, complete disasters.
It appears now that this has become more than mere conjecture, as HoopDirt has reported that Huggins, per their sources, did indeed have a Zoom call with Cleveland State leadership last week. They did also report that Missouri assistant and former CSU assistant Rob Summers appears to still very much in the mix.
Since Huggins is out there, and if this is the direction that Cleveland State ultimately goes, then theoretically, it’s worth a shot. He is a Basketball Hall of Famer. He has netter 935 wins over the course of his career. And his teams consistently have made the NCAA Tournament, most recently the 2022-23 West Virginia team he led prior to his ouster that June.
He has also fostered a coaching tree that’s branched out to the highest levels of the NCAA, including former Youngstown State and current Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun, as well as the NBA, with Joe Mazzulla of the defending champion Boston Celtics. So on paper and in practice, none of his credentials should be in dispute.
But, as well-renowned on the court as Huggins is, he is 71 years old. That begs the question of if he’s hired, how long will his tenure last? A year? Two years? Even if it’s three years, the same timeframe as the previous two coaches, CSU will still be back in the candidate pool looking for a new coach.
So, if Cleveland State wants to pull the trigger on a Bob Huggins hire? Go for it. But there should be two conditions.
First and foremost, after rebuilding the roster, the top priority absolutely should be to rebuild the fanbase. You know, the one that’s scampered away over the last decade? This is an difficult challenge, but not an impossible one. After all, his protege Calhoun made it a point of emphasis to reach out to members of the Youngstown community that had long dismissed YSU hoops as an afterthought and built the foundation of what we see at Zidian Family Arena today.
With Cleveland, of course, attention is far more spread out, and oftentimes overlooks CSU, as we’ve witnessed and lamented over the years. But everyone knows Huggins, even if you’re not into college basketball. Having a name is by no means a cure-all, but it’s a good start.
The second, and most important, condition is that Huggins and Cleveland State need to work out a plan to outline a succession process for when he ultimately decides to hang it up. Such a plan wasn’t in place in 2023 at WVU, clearly, and the university was caught flat-footed after dismissing Huggins, opting instead to name Josh Eilert as an interim instead.
West Virginia ultimately recovered from that scramble, given that as a high-major school, it will always have the veritable pick of the litter. Cleveland State’s situation, on the other hand, is more of a crapshoot. So while WVU could have a bump in the road, CSU could be back where it was in 2017 (read: disaster).
Huggins obviously has the acumen to identify up-and-coming talent within his coaching ranks, so bringing on an assistant who will ultimately be his successor once he finally hangs it up for good would be the ideal situation.
The bottom line is if these two conditions are amenable to Huggins, and if Cleveland State decides that he’s the guy and not Summers (or anyone else we don’t know about, which is also possible), then CSU should pull the trigger.
And with players getting snapped up in the portal left and right, time is of the essence. So if it’s Huggins, Summers or someone else, there isn’t any time to waste.
Subscribe to our emails, and get our latest posts in your inbox, plus a weekly digest of everything we've published!
