Does Jerrod Calhoun arrival change outlook on Bob Huggins? | Williams
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SUBJECT: About-face on former Cincinnati Bearcats basketball coach Bob Huggins?
MESSAGE: So now that a Huggins-adjacent figure is back on the sidelines at UC, you cannot quickly enough attempt to make public amends for his previous forceful and unapologetic denouncement of (Huggins’) decades of “abhorrent behavior,” eh?
Because to stand on the principles you so proudly espoused less than three years ago might jeopardize your proximity to – and acceptance from – the freshly instated and fiercely loyal pro-Huggins crowd now in control at UC.
Guess when you once appeared to actually flash (some guts), you didn’t see coming the crazy wrinkle where Huggins' coaching tree might wind its way back to Clifton.
Reply: Did my wife put you up to writing this? Because she’s always on me about projecting and turning things into something they aren’t.
My viewpoint on Bob Huggins hasn’t changed since his days at the University of Cincinnati. I’ve consistently been critical of him for decades while most of my colleagues in the media have kissed up to him.
Let’s get one thing clear: I don’t write things I don’t believe. I am allowed to evolve in my viewpoints, just as you are.
The only thing that has changed in how I view Huggins: I can now accept that UC fans appreciate what he did for Bearcats basketball. He was a winner, and we’ve not had many of those around here.
Now that Huggins’ coaching career is over, I can accept that fans embrace his on-court accomplishments at UC and the special relationships he’s maintained with some of his former players.
Is there something wrong with that? Because there’d be something wrong with me, as both a person and journalist, if I didn’t at least change my outlook on that. No principles have been compromised. Huggins still deserves every bit of criticism for his off-the-court issues and for how he bullied a lot of people during his career.
I’m not advocating for UC to officially hire Huggins as a fundraiser or as a coaching consultant. That’s not going to happen, anyway.
As for UC hiring a member of Huggins’ “coaching tree,” it’s irrelevant to my commentary on the former coach. Jerrod Calhoun is his own guy. He and Huggins would tell you that.
The journalist-newsmaker relationship is built on its own merits. That’s not unlike any other professional relationship. Yes, there are journalists who write things – or intentionally don’t write things – to curry favor with sources and newsmakers. I’m not one of those journalists.
I’ve criticized many politicians and sport figures over the years. I’ve praised many of them, too. Regardless, most of them have still talked to me. Most public-facing, powerful figures understand criticism comes with the job. Sometimes, it takes time for the relationship to get fixed, but developing trusted relationships is a big part of the job. Aren’t trusted relationships a key to any job, though?
Many people who are close to Huggins have always talked to me and still do. The only person who I can recall who wouldn’t talk to me after I started being critical of him was his close friend Chuck Machock, the late UC radio analyst.
And that most likely was because I torched him – and deservedly so – in my report for the Cincinnati Post after Machock embarrassed the university when he got ejected from that 2003 NCAA Tournament game in Utah. Chuck took that and my criticism of Huggins personal, and I now understood because of how passionate he was about Huggins, UC basketball and his role on radio.
Anyway, I look forward to writing about the Calhoun era and hope Huggins-level success is on the horizon for UC basketball.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: About-face on basketball Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins? | Williams