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3 Guys Before The Game - Bob Huggins Resigns (Episode 468) · 3 Guys Before The Game

0:17
Hey there, welcome in. It is time for a special edition call It
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what You Want Emergency Podcast. Three Guys Before the Game Bob Huggins resignation as
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West Virginia University's head basketball coach. Three Guys Before the Game. We'll look
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into it, talk about it, what's it all mean? And where do
0:39
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All right, so it is Sunday morning, and we are recording,
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and obviously we never thought that we would be in here on a Sunday morning,
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but obviously the events that started to take place on Friday night in Pittsburgh.
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In the course of pretty much twenty six hours, Bob Huggins is charged
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and arrested for DUI, And in the course of that twenty six hour time
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frame, the police report comes out and Bob Huggins resigns as West Virginia University's
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head basketball coach. So it goes beyond sane that there are so many different
3:08
pieces and now so many different angles that will come off of this, and
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that's what we're going to talk about. We have not talked at all.
3:19
We literally just walked in here. We've not talked at all about thoughts and
3:24
what we're going to say. And obviously in the course of everything that's happened
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since Friday night and all day yesterday, and then you think about it and
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you wake up this morning and you're thinking, did that really happen? And
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yeah, it really did happen. You have this I think, just so
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many different memories and so many different thoughts, and there's no right answer,
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there's no wrong answers. Just as myriad emotions all the way across the board,
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here's one thing to hit me among other things. So from the from
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the first day, this is just strictly personal on my point, from the
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first day he took the job, which I believe was a good Friday in
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April, right correct, From the first day up until whenever it was the
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last time that I saw hugs he was I never had a cross word,
4:23
I never had a hey, what did you say? Zero, The most
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accommodating, easiest to get along guy I've ever come across ever. So that's
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like the beauty of hugs. That was like the beauty of hugs, and
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that was his special that was his special quality and so like forever, I'll
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be grateful for that. You can't have a sixteen plus year run and hoppy
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you know this on a day to day basis with the people that you have
4:55
contact with. So that was that was That was awesome. And there are
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so many things that we'll get into here that to me, that's the sad
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part about it. And obviously this is so emotional because I don't think there's
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anyone in the state of West Virginia that had more People had more emotional attachment
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too, And we've talked about it. I don't exactly we can't define what
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it was, but he had this intangible it that people gravitated towards. Well,
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he was one he not was is one of us, went here,
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came back here, wanted to be here, had success. That's the definition
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of being loved in West Virginia. Yeah, it revered And so that to
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me was like he had that that quality And so there's there's just a bunch
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a bunch of emotions. How they go through this, So, as I
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said, we didn't talk at all. We came in here, thanks to
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Taylor Kennedy for coming in on extremely short notice, and let's jump in hop
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girt ahead. Okay, as he said, myriad angles here, let me
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start with this. WVU had two choices. The choice was either he retires
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or he gets fired. Those were the only choices at the university had.
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Yes, as I understand it, there was some suggestion, well what if
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he went to rehab? That never got any traction. But I don't think
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there was ever any serious consideration Brad that this could end anyway other than Huggins
6:25
losing his job because of what happened previously six weeks ago when he was given
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when clearly he was given a second chance, that was the definition of a
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second chance, and clearly he was on thin isis like, Okay, you
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got a second chance, but you're gonna have to do these certain things and
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then this is the definition of not following through on that promise. Therefore,
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throughout yesterday I don't think there was a big discussion as to well, what
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are all the options. It was how do we get this done as quickly
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as possible, either retire, resign, or get fired. Yeah, I
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think that's was pretty clear once the police report came out. I think that
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if it wasn't already in that category, I think and moved to that category.
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And I think you can just see the timing of the last two incidents
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involving Bob Huggins. How the first one on the radio show took quite a
7:12
bit longer to get to some sort of resolution, to show that there was
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some discussion behind the scenes. This moved extremely quickly for the situation. So
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I think you're right on. I think that's not debatable. I mean,
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given what you've seen, given the two incidents back to back, I think
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that's a that's a pretty clear answer there. I'm gonna another thing too,
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and this, to me, I've thought a lot about this, and this
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is the elephant in the room, but I think it needs to be addressed,
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and that is Bob Huggins has an alcohol problem. Now, you say,
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Hoppy, how can you say that? I say that for three reasons.
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One is, there's anecdote Evans. Now I don't hang with Bob Huggins.
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I know him, but I don't hang around with him. There is
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anecdotal Evans Number one. But that's not the most compelling thing. Number two
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is that the university has addressed that with him. The alcohol issue has been
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a dressed by university officials with Bob Huggins. Okay. Number three is that
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based on the criminal complaint, that's not I had two beers after something or
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I had a glass of wine. This indicates serious impairment and the university you
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acted swiftly on that, and that's the primary reason why he lost his job.
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Okay, So you lose your take out Huggins in WVU, you lost
8:28
your job because of an alcohol related incident. Two. That is the definition
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of an alcohol problem. You lose your job because of an alcohol related incident.
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That's the definition that there's an alcohol issue here. I'll leave it at
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that. I don't have any other expertise, but I think that that needs
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to be I think that needs to be said' not picking on him because I
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have empathy for people have substance abuse issues or whatever the issue may be.
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But that needs to be said, and that is part of this equation.
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You've been talking bosly to folks since this all happened. So, as you
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said, there were two options there. He spoke with the team last night
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obviously according to the reports that God, that was very emotional, which it
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was sure, which which it is, I mean, because whether you want
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to be or not, it becomes a family, it becomes a family.
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So suddenly something like this hits and so to me and the thought that I
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had, this is what I many of the things that I don't like is
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that his career, the end of his career now becomes Unfortunately, it's these
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memories that people will have. It's it's the part that won't go away.
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And you hope over time and the time obviously changes a ton of things and
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hopefully that will be. But as of right now, that's that's the thing.
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Like what he hayes, You say what he hayes, and you say
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great football coach, great football because both then it's almost like written in script.
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He came off the sideline and he punched a guy from clumpson Charlie bun
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When that's what ended his career. That is a hugely unfortunate part of a
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guy's career. That I mean, the guy was up until yesterday, the
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winningest active coach in college basketball, not in the Big Twelve, not in
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college basketball, third all time in the history of the game. That is
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what adds to that. Just it's a tragic end to a great career,
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is what it is. It's a tragic end to a great career. And
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I think the other thing, and I know we're going to jump around here
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with no chronological order necessarily, but the thing I keep coming back to is
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it's incredibly sad for him personally. And you're right, you hope there's some
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help coming for him so he can get well. That's one. But this
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goes from a period, a long period in West Virginia basketball history, of
10:54
some continuity and consistency. Right you knew basically what you had every year,
10:58
that you were going to be in the mix, that you were going to
11:01
be competitive, that you were going to be nationally relevant, as we talk
11:03
a lot about. You had that for a decade plus and now you're in
11:07
this period of total chaos and flux. And I mean this on a bunch
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of levels, thirty thousand foot level. The programs in extreme chaos right now,
11:18
and never has there been a time in college sports history where that chaos
11:22
can be so on settling. And we'll get into some of that about the
11:24
ability of these players to lead the ability of these players to get extra options
11:30
somewhere else. Will the nil money that had been coming in from donors recently
11:33
stick around or was that specifically a Bob Huggins type of deal. There's a
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lot of day to day questions that come, but on a bigger picture,
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this has a lot of ripple effects across a lot of people in that athletic
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department and on that staff that suddenly now have their lives thrown into utter chaos
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and uncertainty because of this decision by Huggs. I mean, there's a lot
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of people sitting there today that don't know what's coming next for them, and
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I think that's sometimes what gets lost in coaching changes, whether it's things like
12:03
this or universities decide to move on the head coaches generally find their way to
12:07
be okay. They've got the resources to be okay. It's everybody else connected
12:11
with that program that are thrown into absolute chaos through nothing that they did.
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And now they're the ones that have to try and pick up the pieces.
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And there's a lot of people picking up the pieces this morning surrounding this because
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of the way that this falls. This is June eighteenth, as we record
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WVU Athletic Department contracts begin at the start of their fiscal year, which is
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July one one, so those contracts are oftentimes on an annual renewal. And
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so now from according to reports, each member of that staff was informed,
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well, you have until July one and that'll be the end. You will
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be out of a contract. You have the chance, depending on what happens,
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to be rehired, but as of right now, there's no guarantee going
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forward. There's not a year, there's not a severance package. At this
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point, it's you're done and if you get rehired, great, you're back
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on. And if you don't, then you have to go find your way.
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And as Brad said, I mean we're talking about double digit numbers of
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people on staff, and then if you do the tertiary family members, like
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this thing is just a massive, massive spider web of people that were impacted
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by this. So that's huge. Yeah, it is. And you know,
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I don't want to I really don't want to pile on here because it's
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it's it's bad as it can be. Well, no, it could be
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worse. It's bad, it could be worse, and I don't want to
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pile on. But, as Huggan said in a statement, why recent actions
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do not represent the values of the university or the leadership expected in this role.
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So, Brad, when you talk about all the people impacted, they're
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impacted because of the failure of the leadership of the person in role, which
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you igno Knowledge's instatement. So he's owning that in the statement, which he
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should, which he should. You know, I I have this actually,
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I was thinking that, you know, we worked on this all day yesterday.
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I kind of have this fantasy and I that in I'm imagining, imagining
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a Saturday in January in twenty twenty five or twenty twenty six, and Tony,
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it's West Virginia in Kansas, and you know, the place is rocking,
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and it's Bob Huggins night. And Huggins comes back and at halftime he
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comes out to mid court. There is a you know, older but healthier
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Bob Huggins and he can be he can he can see the the appreciation that
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West Virginia fans have had for what he has done and what he's accomplished over
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his years. You can't do that now, and you can't do that this
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year. And he's not ready for it, and the fans maybe not ready
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for it either, But at some point I'd like to think that that happens,
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that there can be that there can be a moment where that can happen.
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We're along away from that now, but that would be something to aspire
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to for his career and for the fans. Absolutely absolutely, because you don't
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want these situations to end the way that this one ended, and unfortunately it.
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Oh. I was thinking about this last night, Like, in forty
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years, the last forty years here at West Virginia's is, like I say,
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from the eighties now, there's only been really one coach, one coach
15:41
whose departure went smoothly, and that was Don Neelon. So fill in like
15:50
fill in right, So there's animosity, There's animosity when Rich left, there
15:58
was animosity when the way Stu was treated. There was like animosity with Dana
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yeah right yeah, and then you go to basketball and like there wasn't animosity
16:11
with what will coach catlet that ended like weird, weird, right? That
16:15
was mids February, John bee Line Dan Dockets. Yeah, I mean John
16:22
was less, there wasn't It was just like hurt more than hey, don't
16:27
stay. You know, that was more. That was more hurt. That
16:30
was more of a hurt. It wasn't a you know, but these things.
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My point to all of that is that these things very very rarely end
16:40
well. This isn't new territory, normally don't end well. But but the
16:45
bee line here's I was just gonna say, part of the bee line,
16:48
in my mind was two parts. He handled it really well. Yes,
16:53
he handled it as well as you've seen in a coach. If you're gonna
16:56
leave, he he addressed it head on, thanked the less Virginia fans,
17:00
and moved on. He was a textbook how to handle that. Number one
17:03
and number two that was eased because you followed with Bob Huggins exactly if you
17:07
had followed with somebody that then had no success in the thing went down,
17:11
I think there would be more animosity towards John. The fact that you rolled
17:15
right in a halt what was going to be a Hall of famer, and
17:18
we all knew that was going to be a Hall of famer at some point,
17:22
and you picked right up where you left off and quite frankly, then
17:25
kicked it up a notch. I think everybody could then move into thanking coach
17:29
bee line for putting the thing back on track. Right, Yes, coming
17:33
in immediately after John helped ease that transition. So you look at Yes,
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John always is going to have this special, special place in West Virginia basketball
17:42
because what he did. The team he took over was eight and twenty and
17:47
in the course of his time he went, he gets him up, you
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know, great run NCAA's and then goes wins the n I goes to Michigan
17:56
and goes to two final fours plays in the championship game and go like,
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oh thank you, hands the baton off with a program that was in infinitely
18:03
better shape than absolutely absolutely to a guy that West Virginia had been trying to
18:07
get, had been and fans had been been talking about for decades, we
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ever get Bob Huggins. Huggins ever be the coach there, and then to
18:15
have that happen, I think that really eased that and for Huggins and for
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Huggins, who had only been a case date one year to say I want
18:22
to go home and this is the place I want to be. I mean
18:25
that that was the start of the endearment of the fans, right what do
18:30
we want? What does West Virginia want? Somebody to love you back?
18:33
Yes, exactly, somebody to love you back, and it is not using
18:37
you as a stepping stone. This is where you want to be. I'm
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you, You're me, I mean all that, which is what Huggins has
18:42
been. And there was no question from that good Friday day when he took
18:45
the job that he wasn't leaving right right, that's the other part. So
18:49
if you go through that the history of all of those coaches, there's been
18:52
very few moments where you've known you've got the guy in place that's not leaving.
18:56
You're not nervous all have to worry about that he's not going anywhere.
19:00
Now you can just focus on the games and the wins and losses and even
19:03
and even when you know, guys, even this year when West Virginia was
19:07
struggling at times, whenever they were every game that they were on television,
19:14
there was moment a moment or moments where the announcers were talking about Bob Huggins
19:18
and the West Virginia program. You still had a national profile. Absolutely,
19:22
okay, because why because of Bob Huggins. And that's why this that's why
19:27
this is such a such a monumental event. I mean not just the event
19:33
itself, but the way it happened, and this this downfall, this this
19:38
severing which had to happen. But to continue along that line, and again
19:44
the major issues we've addressed now start to niche down to this particular team and
19:49
the timing of this an Tony you mentioned it. You have a guy at
19:53
your program, at the at West Virginia's program that's the all time winning is
19:56
active coach in college basketball, So you would have had an entire year plus
20:02
however long he would have remained of that discussion, and you basking in that
20:07
number one. We've talked so much about the incoming class of transfer portal,
20:11
by many accounts, the number one transfer portal class in the country. So
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I think that's the other thing that we'll settle in over these next few days.
20:17
And as you get closer to the season and you start to see what
20:19
happens with this roster, there will always be that what if that surrounds this
20:25
particular group. Was this group poised for maybe one last run at a chance
20:30
to make a deep run the nca Tournament that now the fans are deprived of
20:33
that opportunity to be excited about basketball for an upcoming season, which leads us
20:37
into the next huge question, who is the next person that will take over
20:44
as West Virginia's head basketball coach? And oddly enough, just about eight nine
20:52
days ago, Ren Baker was in the studio and not knowing obviously anything of
20:59
what was going to happen, that specific question was asked to rend Baker as
21:03
to how you handle it? And if you miss that, let's look at
21:07
that right now. Here's the question from Hope to rend Baker, how do
21:08
you do this? You're hired because you're expected to handle the day to day,
21:14
the week to week, and also be looking ahead. So do you
21:18
how much long would you expect coach Huggins to be the coach? And do
21:21
you have that list in your back pocket? And are you thinking about the
21:23
next coach? We? Uh so, I'm pretty diligent about keeping a list
21:29
for every sport. And it's not the proverbial list in the ads top drawer,
21:34
but it is a spreadsheet of every and every year I'll have the sport
21:38
program administrator go back and kind of refresh that. If our job was to
21:42
open rather coach retired you know, rather a coach moved on like we had
21:48
in women's basketball at their own decision, Rather we had to make a decision.
21:52
I think you always have to be prepared if you start that process only
21:57
after you know, the openings come and you just especially in this recruiting environment
22:02
with the portal, you're just every day that goes by, you're you're opening
22:06
up some liability there. So I always keep a list like that, um,
22:11
And usually about mid season I'll start refreshing it because people who would have
22:15
been on a list this year would have gotten many of them would have gotten
22:18
jobs. So that list looks different, um, a year from now.
22:22
But but I try to never be caught off off guard because you just never
22:26
know. Take women's basketball, for example, we had a women's basketball list.
22:30
I would have never thought that we would be using that list, you
22:34
know. Um. But um, that's the way that this business is.
22:40
The Only thing that you can do is be prepared for whatever may come.
22:45
Russian's comment, you never know, As Rinn Baker said, and my understanding
22:49
guys is that the top w administration they have a lot of confidence in Renn
22:53
Baker. They think he's on top of it. Uh. He did a
22:56
good job, I think on filling that women's asketball position which nobody saw coming.
23:03
And now you couldn't see this coming. But if he's doing his job
23:06
and the thinking is that he is brad, that he's got some idea and
23:08
today he's working on that. Yeah, yes, the challenge on this one
23:14
is timing right. There's a couple of challenges and we can get into this
23:18
here coming up. One, it's roster makeup that is so heavy transfers.
23:22
What's their availability to leave? Can they leave? We're out of the transfer
23:25
portal window. Do they get a waiver because the coach was removed. There's
23:29
a lot of questions regarding that. The nil part of this is a massive
23:32
question because anybody that Wren talks to is going to do two things. They're
23:34
going to look at the success West for who's had in the transfer market and
23:37
feel good about that. That makes it very attractive. But you've got to
23:41
secure a commitment from the money that was coming in that that money remains with
23:47
this program, that it wasn't just tied to Bob Huggins being the coach and
23:51
hugs ability to go out and raise money directly. I think that's a massively
23:55
important question in this and your ability to compete and attract a head coach is
24:00
high directly to the answer to that question. Yes, I think that's a
24:03
super good point because I think sometimes folks might not realize that how that dynamic
24:08
works. And so they're obviously some incredibly passionate supporters of Hugs that he could
24:18
call and say, hey, I need your help and could you really make
24:23
a contribution here? Can you really help us in support? Okay, so
24:29
now the question becomes, do those supporters now go like, Hey, I
24:34
love the university, but I really loved Hugs. I'm stepping back. If
24:40
you do, then you either have to go find that person that can give
24:48
you that support. That's why this higher in this decision is so unbelievably important.
24:53
If you put someone who does not meet the desires or does not connect
25:02
with those that have that support for your NIL, it will take you back
25:07
significant steps. Okay, that's the unknown. You don't know as we sit
25:12
here this morning. You don't know how many, if any, of these
25:18
current players on this roster are going to leave. I can guarantee you that
25:23
they've already received texts and phone calls multiple This is like a feeding frenzy right
25:30
now, a feeding frenzy from opposing coaches right now. While this was happening
25:36
yesterday, I'm telling you, before Bob Huggins, even resigned coaches were calling
25:41
people and saying, you let fill in the blank player know that we're here.
25:48
It's out there, we're here, and we'll match his offer. I
25:49
mean, that's the other part of the sliding scale here, is that the
25:55
numbers that these guys may not be publicly known, they are known internally,
25:57
and those players know what they have, so when fielding offers, they know
26:02
what their value is. So yeah, I think it's critical to secure that
26:06
financial commitment, even if it's short term. Even if those particular donors just
26:11
say, hey, listen, I'm here to try and help move this thing
26:14
forward, I'm still in with my current commitment because then at least there's again
26:18
a couple moving parts. If you secure this roster as it is, this
26:23
is a really attractive job, guys. I mean, this becomes an attractive
26:26
job in the best league in America. With the number one recruiting class that
26:30
has come in a high level of talent. There clearly some support in the
26:34
game, nil wise, at least short term, the coach is going to
26:37
know he's going to have to work moving forward to secure that. There's a
26:41
lot of things working in Wren's favor as he pitches this program to external people
26:47
in what is a really weird hiring cycle. So there's going to be some
26:51
candidates that are available. You can take some swings here. I think it's
26:53
some people that are a little more established given what you have in place.
26:59
But that stuff all like the I mean, the ground is rumbling and shaking
27:03
right the earthquake hasn't happened, but man, it's you can hear the rumbles
27:07
coming. This is not a conventional easy search for Renbank. Think of the
27:11
ripple effect. Because you try to pluck somebody it's a value. Then another
27:14
school's going, oh crap, it's June. Oh that's we got to find
27:17
another domino. Yes, I also ripple effect. I just took the positive
27:22
slant of that. If you want to go the other way and a couple
27:25
of these players start going and leaving, you've got a potential problem. Just
27:29
a number situation of bringing in a new coach and getting players that are past
27:33
the transfer portal deadline to be able to come and play for you. I
27:37
mean, you actually have a situation. We have to be worried about the
27:40
number of players on this roster. Correct, There's a lot of things that
27:42
are happening from last night over the next forty eight seventy two hours as Wren
27:48
tries to piece this together. This is that we keep saying this, This
27:52
is a way different search than it would have been five years ago, ten
27:55
years ago. And also, I want to make this point, this is
27:57
a different world that we're living in in this sense. As much as we
28:04
criticize or get bummed out at times about NIL and about the transfer portal,
28:11
the mere fact that NIL exists right now will pay huge, huge benefits and
28:17
dividends to West Virginia today, more so than any other previous West Virginia head
28:22
coach. And here's why the criticism about WVU and it's recruiting through the years
28:30
has been the state is extremely small, with one point eight million people.
28:34
You don't have a guaranteed, built in number of athletes that can come from
28:40
your state that you can secure. That's always been the problem, and they
28:44
can get you in the past on geography or back in the Atlantic ten days.
28:48
It's not a great league it's not a power league. So now what's
28:52
changed. You can sell the best basketball conference in the country. One two,
29:00
you can sell if it can continue. Nil changes everything. Nil changes
29:06
everything. Those blue blood schools, if you're matching their dollars, you could
29:11
see that they'll come here. Hold on, you just did it. You
29:15
did it. You just beat Kansas and Gonzaga for a recruit this offseason because
29:18
of the dollars you're able to bring in. And that's why I say that's
29:22
the critical piece here. Those donors that have given to get you to that
29:26
point where you sit as of three days ago. Are they still there?
29:30
Correct? Correct? So that's why as bad as this seems right now,
29:36
if you can maintain your financial commitment, you can be a player. And
29:41
Matt, I'm telling you guys, that would be the very first question I
29:45
would ask as the agent of a coach when rend Baker calls, tell me
29:48
the financial commitment. What you guys did this offseason was really impressive. Tell
29:52
me where that stands. Was that a Bob Huggins commitment? Was that a
29:55
one year commitment? Was that a five year commitment? Where does your nil
29:59
stand? That's the before I ask what my client's gonna make for a salary
30:03
what you're going to give me year wise? I ask about the NIL and
30:06
the commitment moving forward. Yes, because if you don't have it, you
30:08
can't compete in this league because everyone else does. Now, let's talk women's
30:12
basketball real quick here. Why was that West A couple things. Why was
30:18
the West Virginia job interesting to Mark Kellogg? And how did West Virginia keep
30:23
all six of the players that have had ons roster from going away? Because
30:26
West Virginia has a significant, sizeable commitment for women's basketball to its nil.
30:34
They have a pledge for four years for the next four years for their NIL.
30:40
That takes care of They can put them in great, great places.
30:44
That's why. That's the reason to that. And so Mark Kellogg comes in
30:48
and goes, you're giving me that and my ability to go get others.
30:52
This is good. The same thing has to happen here. The same thing
30:56
has to happen on the men's side. That's the unknown and has and that's
31:02
why you were able to get the guys you had, and why West Virginia
31:04
was involved with seemingly every transfer that hit the portal. You knew you had
31:07
the salary cap to go get them for the last two years. What happened?
31:11
What happened to West Virginia when Hugs did not fully embrace the portal?
31:18
What happened? You went because they went conventional and everyone else was playing the
31:23
new game. When West Virginia goes, okay, fine, so last year,
31:27
who do they go get? Right? You go get Stevenson, you
31:30
go get two Sons, you go get Trey Mitchell. To what happens all
31:33
of a sudden, you went like this. That's why everyone was obviously excited
31:37
for this coming season and we'll see how it all unfolds because West Virginia got
31:41
into that game. And so that's the biggest piece to all of this is
31:47
it's just like you said, as long as you have the nil commitment,
31:51
then you can get the horses and the thoroughbreds that you need to play in
31:55
this high level league. And that will direct that answer will directly affect the
31:59
Canada dates that Ren Bakers able to talk with. Yeah, it just simply
32:02
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monitoring services. They can be your it. So the question now becomes how
33:42
long does this take? How long does this take? Because of the incredibly
33:47
fragile nature of trying to keep the band together. Green met with the team
33:57
yesterday afternoon, Hugs met with the team last night, and so now communication
34:04
has got to be of paramount importance for wvu's athletic department right now. The
34:12
current coaches, it's crazy, right, they're told your contract may or may
34:16
not be renewed on July one, So they're on ice skates. This is
34:21
similar to when Donnelon retired. Those coaches knew that they would be potentially not
34:29
sure. Are they coming out of the back If you're going to that Music
34:31
City Bowl, you guys, remember that it was the most tenuous time I
34:35
had ever seen, because those guys are going to this game going I don't
34:37
know if I have a job after this. Who knows who's coming rich?
34:40
You know? And then and then eventually is Rich gonna keep me? As
34:43
Rich not going to keep me. That's just it's just it's it's part of
34:46
the deal. It's unfortunate, but that's that's the part of the deal.
34:50
So West Virginia has got to be communicating right now with each of these players
34:55
and their representatives saying just don't do anything quickly. Just hang on here,
35:01
We're going to have something for you. It's crazy. Well, you said,
35:07
how long does it take? The answer is it cannot take long.
35:09
I mean you have to move. No, So you have this, You
35:12
have the worst possible situation is you have to move quickly and you have to
35:15
make a great choice. So yeah, it's a tough spot to be in.
35:21
And that's why I've said earlier. For a lot of reasons, I
35:22
feel for the people around this program that are charged with the having to take
35:30
care of their own families and do what is in their best interests. And
35:32
maybe that's leaving for some of them if they can get an opportunity. But
35:37
yet they're trying to keep the thing together and communicate to the players that are
35:40
there and do the best they can for West Virginia University while at the same
35:45
time worried about their families. At the same time, players fielding calls because
35:50
opposing coaches are saying the same thing. We're saying, Okay, n you
35:52
gotta move quickly and you gotta get the right guy. That's what the opposing
35:55
coaches are trying to get the players to go before the new person is on
36:00
board and the new person can rerecruit the current guys, right, So those
36:04
opposing schools are calling saying, hey, we need to know right now,
36:06
we gotta go, you gotta go, but let me know here by the
36:07
end of the day. So there's two competing sides colliding here and all of
36:13
those people, players and staff are caught smack in the middle of this.
36:15
And if I'm an assistant coach today at West Virginia and I have there are
36:21
two priorities, keeping the current players and looking out for myself. What's the
36:23
first thing I'm doing. I'm looking out. I'm looking up. I don't
36:27
know how you can't look out for yourselves. And I wouldn't blame anything,
36:30
would either, like, okay, I want the sky to stay, but
36:32
you know what your spouse is saying. Anyway, there's mortgage payment again.
36:36
I mean, you got to take care of yourself. And that's why there's
36:39
coaches and staff all over the country in this situation that I have a great
36:43
respect for that are able to balance that and do both. And you mentioned
36:46
that Music City Bowl. Those assistants in this exact situation. Did a great
36:51
job, didn't they. I mean, they did a great job being able
36:53
to prepare that team and be ready to go while at the same time having
36:59
your future in absolute flux in And because of that, that was a lot
37:04
of the reasons that many of us thought, Oh, you're not gonna win
37:06
this Bowl game because and they came out and won. One other nugget,
37:08
this is just a little nugget is there because I think this has come up
37:12
or welcome up. Is there is not a settlement with coach Huggins. There's
37:15
not a payout. There's not a buyout. There is a fulfillment of the
37:20
contract through Friday through yesterday. Okay, so the contract he's due a payment
37:27
through yesterday. Also, the way his contract is structured, he has a
37:30
he's deferred some of his salary until retirement, so obviously he's do that.
37:34
But there's no buyout or anything like that. Again, you don't know which
37:40
way Wren is going to play on this, so we'll just do this totally
37:43
for speculation. Do you do an intim coach for a year that lets you
37:52
reassess and have the complete open field of potential candidates, or do you just
38:00
begin the process right now and make the higher that's going to be the permanent
38:06
head coach. You don't know how that is going to play out, And
38:08
I think maybe the answer to that would be who would I guess it's this,
38:15
firstly, can I get the person that I think long term is going
38:20
to be the successful coach that we need? Correct, that's the first question.
38:23
Correct if the answer to that is not really? But I know if
38:28
I wait until the end of next season, so and so will be available
38:31
and that's really who I want, and then that's part of it. Or
38:36
can I get an intrim? Can I get an intrim that's an absolute slam
38:42
dunk that will take care of us and we'll fix this. Well, I
38:49
know what you're saying, Tony. I think it's a good argument, especially
38:51
if you're operating under the assumption you can't find the person you want. But
38:54
an intim to me, feels like now you're two years behind. I normally
38:59
would agree with you if the world used to if the world was the same
39:01
way it used to be, nil hoppy, It's like it's like it's like
39:06
a pop up bakery. I think you just drive your trailer and be like
39:08
open the door. We're selling it like it used to be that like when
39:12
John Bieline first took this program over, he had to build that thing for
39:15
two and a half three years. That's no longer the case because you can
39:19
go boom boom boosh with that nil money that we're talking off. You go.
39:22
I think you raise a great question, and I my gut would tell
39:25
me if if I were doing this search, here's how I would handle I
39:29
would Ren's got his list. Where do you get to on your list?
39:32
In terms of nos? Do numbers one through four tell you? I'd love
39:37
to talk to you, but I just can't. Not the right time,
39:38
and you're down to number five, and now you have to decide I don't.
39:43
I mean, five's interesting, but I really don't want five. But
39:45
I but I've got some guys next year, interim for this year. I
39:49
think some of that depends on what feedback you get when you're out here talking
39:53
to people right now. Yeah, he's because because I think if if you're
39:59
just trying for speed and it's a guy that you like but you don't love,
40:02
I do think there's some value and interim and that sucks for everybody involved.
40:07
That sucks for players. That sucks for fans. That stinks to have
40:10
to go through a year when you're not ultimately competing for a Big twelve title,
40:15
which you would have been. But it may be better as the long
40:17
term solution. And again, there's just so many moving parts to this wall.
40:21
Wait a second, you said something to see you don't think? Okay,
40:25
you're you're assuming that a bunch of guys leave, correct, Okay,
40:29
okay, correct. Yeah. I think that if you get some way somehow,
40:32
this is kind of maybe like winning the lottery, if you're able to
40:36
keep the band together and you're able to bring in a while. And again,
40:39
like I'm sitting here right now, do I have names? Do I
40:43
have a thought? No? But like for whatever reason, for whatever reason,
40:45
when these situations happen, like in the past, like someone will get
40:50
plucked in to go like, heck, I didn't realize that, you know
40:53
what I mean. I've seen that happen too, where they bring someone in
40:57
you and go like, oh I get this, I got that. So
41:00
if you're able to do that, then it could be okay, you can
41:04
have a heck of a run still this season. I know I'm asking for
41:08
I'm asking for two, I'm asking for asking for a coach that's got great
41:13
credibility. That's really hard what you're asking to do. I know, Okay,
41:21
that's really hard. I know. Nothing's easy, nothing's easy. All
41:29
right, Well, this obviously is a story that's going to develop quickly.
41:35
We'll do our best to stay on top of it as it goes. We're
41:38
we're here, we're available. You guys around this week. You're here.
41:42
Yes, you're around this week, Kirchill, you're not going to Malaysia.
41:45
Koala, lamb poor, I'm in New Zealand. I'm here. I okay.
41:53
It seems like there's always coaching news here in West Virginia. Yeah,
41:57
there is. Okay, so that'll be it. We'll be back sometime this
42:01
week. And who knows. I mean, this is this a three day,
42:06
five day, eight day deal? Is it longer than that? You
42:08
know that practice was supposed to practice was schedule for tomorrow. They we're gonna
42:14
go to Italy in August. That's you can't do that, and so now
42:19
that whole dynamic changes. Okay. Special thanks again to h Taylor Tyler,
42:25
County Kennedy for coming in on short notice. We are complete Episode four hundred
42:32
and sixty eight of three guys before the game. Thanks for listening. Have
42:37
yourself a great Father's Day. Yeah, Father's Day. Happy Father's Day,
42:43
boys, Yeah, Happy father to you. Thank you, thank you.
42:45
We're out see y'all.