College basketball giants Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams have both decided to retire from coaching.
Krzyzewski, the winningest coach in college basketball history with 1,170 career victories in 46 seasons, announced earlier this month he will step aside at Duke University following the 2021-22 campaign.
Williams announced his retirement from the University of North Carolina in April after 33 total seasons and 903 career wins as a head coach.
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Their departures signal a major changing of the guard in college basketball. But another longtime coach, Bob Huggins, said Monday the eulogy for his career won't be written anytime soon.
"I'm not nearly as old as those guys," Huggins told The Enquirer.
Bob Huggins has 900 career wins
Huggins, 67, who hosted a dinner and charity auction Monday night at the Original Montgomery Inn to raise money for the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Endowment, a memorial fund named after his late mother to provide cancer care and research, is seven years younger than Krzyzewski and three years younger than Williams.
Huggins is also one of only six coaches in Division I men's basketball history with 900 career wins, joining Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim (982), Jim Calhoun (918), Williams and Bob Knight (902).
Huggins, Boeheim and Krzyzewski are the only remaining active coaches on that list. That list will shrink to two in April 2022.
Huggins, who is 900-382 in his career with 399 of those wins coming at the University of Cincinnati (1989-2005), said he doesn't have any plans of slowing down despite suffering a heart attack while coaching at Cincinnati and sorting through the death of his father and other personal health scares while at West Virginia University. Huggins is entering his 15th season with the Mountaineers.
"As long as I feel like I can do it the right way and I can contribute, I'm going to keep going," Huggins said.
'I care about doing the best job that I can possibly do,' Huggins said
Huggins received a four-year contract extension in 2017 to be the Mountaineers' head coach through the 2021-22 season. Huggins' contract is then set to move into five years of paid emeritus status. Huggins could defer his term of emeritus status and continue to serve as West Virginia head coach beyond 2021-22 with a mutual agreement between Huggins and WVU Director of Athletics Shane Lyons.
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Huggins has multiple Coach of the Year awards, two Final Four appearances and two more Elite Eight berths. But there are two key resume lines that separate him from the other five men's basketball coaches in the 900-win club: Huggins doesn't have a national championship and he isn't in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
"I don't really look at those things," Huggins said. "I keep getting, 'Are you going to get 1,000 wins?' Or are you going to do this or do that? I don't really care about that stuff. I care about doing the best job that I can possibly do, giving them (the players) the best experience that they can possibly have, and then, the joy of it is, like a father, watching them go out into the world and do the things that they do and how well they do those things. That's what I care about. I care so much more about them than I do any record or accolade."
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Former UC players Corie Blount, Tarrice "Tarrance" Gibson, Keith Gregor, Erik Martin and Terry Nelson shared stories Monday night of their past experiences with Huggins. Huggins said those memories are what keep him motivated to coach.
One memory Huggins said will always stick with him is the relationship he had with another one of his former players, Bryan Roth, who played center for Huggins at Akron during the 1984-85 season, Huggins' first with the Zips.
Roth, a 6-foot-7 center, averaged 15.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists that season. More than 33 years later, Huggins said he received a call from Roth.
"He said, 'Coach, can I come and spend a little bit of time with you?' I hadn't really seen him or talk to him all that much since I left Akron," Huggins said. "So he came down, went to a game. I said, 'We're going to play the day after tomorrow, why don't you stay for another one?' So he did. He stayed at my house. We had a great time, talked."
After the game, Huggins said Roth returned to his house for another night. The two had breakfast together the following morning, and then Roth went back to Akron.
"He died the next day," Huggins said.
Roth died suddenly on Sept. 7, 2018. He was 56.
Huggins said he still thinks about Roth, and if Roth knew his days were numbered, every day. Huggins said the thought of Roth nearly paralyzes him with emotion.
"It continues to make you understand that nothing is guaranteed."
