Dave Sez

The Huggins Way

Sometimes I miss a story and report on it a bit late. In this case, I'm waaaay late. This happened last March, but I just heard about it.

You are probably aware of the occasional practice of college coaches hiring the fathers of big-time recruits as "assistant coaches." It's shady, but it happens. The most famous case is Larry Brown hiring Danny Manning's father who was working at the time as a truck driver. And of course, here in the ACC, that's how Dean Smith landed Scott Williams, Roy's son.

Well, leave it Bob Huggins to take this questionable practice to a whole new level. Shortly after he was hired at Kansas State, Huggins hired Dalonte Hill who is very tight with top-five recruit Michael Beasley. The twist? Hill was already employed at Charlotte and Beasley had already "committed" to playing there. Of course, Beasley then changed his mind and is now headed to Manhattan to play for Huggy Bear. Needless to say, Beasley was the best prospect Charlotte had ever signed and now he's gone.

To make the story even better, Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz was a friend of Huggins' and had stuck up for him shortly after Huggins was run out of Cincinnati.

What a guy.