Huggins Has Earned the Right to Stay at WVU for as Long as He Wants

It's been a rough year for the Mountaineers, but you can't deny how much Bob Huggins has done for the university.

The 2021-22 season hasn't gone the way Bob Huggins or any WVU fan wanted, but there is reason to believe that this team will get back to its winning ways sooner than later. 

Just three years ago, the Mountaineers finished the season 15-21 and had all sorts of issues with attitude/ego. I'm not in that locker room, so I can't compare the two situations but Huggins has mentioned that attitudes have crept up with this group along with agendas and said they had some "pouters" during Tuesday's loss|}'- to Oklahoma. It's easy to get frustrated when you've lost as many games as WVU has, but there is no place for those types of personalities to exist inside the program. From everything Huggins has said in just the past three-four weeks, there will be some players who won't be returning next season. 

"I can't do this to the people in West Virginia. We've just got guys that really don't listen, don't care. It's frustrating when guys don't listen. It's frustrating when we have guys that what happens to them is more important than what happens to the team," Huggins said. "So, you'll probably see a guy or two who doesn't suit up for us this weekend when we play again. I've told them and told them and told them and told them. If I don't do something as many times as I've told them what was going to happen, then I lose all credibility and I need credibility to build this team for next year."

I will say this, I don't think Huggins has to worry about losing creditability. I get where he is coming from, I do, but when you have the long-lasting success that he has had throughout his coaching career, that alone gives you credibility. All of these statements from certain fans stating that Huggins needs to retire or be fired is ridiculous.

Entering this season, Huggins had just two losing seasons since becoming the head coach at WVU in 2007. He's had nine 10-win seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances during that span. Actually it should have been 11, but the pandemic happened and canceled the tournament in 2020. Not only does this mean losing seasons are rare in Morgantown, but when they do happen, Huggins fixes it as he promised he would.

Quite frankly, it's hard to expect much out of this team when they lost Miles McBride and Derek Culver as late as they did. When you lose players that late in the draft process and you're not expecting it, it's hard to find replacements for those guys in a short amount of time. The transfer portal is something new that Huggins has to adapt to and he will. 

No, Huggins will not be fired and no, he's not retiring. He's going to hit the recruiting trail hard at the end of the season and get the right guys in the program to get things turned around. In my opinion, the man has earned the right to lead WVU until he decides he no longer wants to.

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