K-State Hires Huggins!

posted by DHarger on 3/23/2006 - -

Multiple sources are reporting that K-State offered its basketball coaching job to Bob Huggins. The Wichita Eagle announced on its web site yesterday evening that Huggins accepted the job. According to Gregg Doyel, a news conference is expected today.

Wow did I have this pegged wrong. I thought that KSU would go with one of its own (mostly because I didn’t think a major college coach would consider moving to Manhattan and trying to recruit kids to play there). I was sure that Mark Fox, Barry Hinson, perhaps Steve Henson, were on the top of the list.

The question now is whether OJ Mayo and/or Bill Walker will follow Huggy to the greener pastures (??? shameless, I know) or bolt for a more prestigious program. I predict the 7′ 2″ center out of Florida announces his K-State LOI on Friday, but I think that Mayo and Walker will both take a long, hard look at the situation. One thing’s certain, Huggins will improve Wildcat recruiting . . . as long as we don’t worry about who or what he does to get it done!

UPDATE (from JC):

Mayo says he may follow Huggins:

“That could be right,” Mayo told the Associated Press about joining Huggins. “At the same time, we don’t want to go to a raw program. We have to see where he ends up, what the school’s fan base is like, see what the fans think about him, and make sure everything is great.”

I think this is great for the Big XII conference. Any time you can add a big-name coach to the fold, it’s good for everyone. It will certainly elevate the level of play, and that’s good for fans.