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Paul Daugherty
Enquirer columnist files news and observations

Paul Daugherty
Paul Daugherty has been an Enquirer sports columnist since 1994 and has been chronicling Cincinnati sports since 1988. He has covered almost every major sporting event in America, as well as five Summer Olympics. Along the way, he has been named one of the country's top-5 sports columnists four times, and Ohio columnist of the year on seven different occasions. Last year, he was voted 2nd-best sports columnist in the country, by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

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Monday, February 26, 2007

Huggs v. Zim

Maybe the best thing about the blog is it gives me the chance to explain why I write what I write. The more you know about what I do, the better we get along. Which explains this post.

I wrote for Monday's paper an explanation of how Bob Huggins and UC parted ways. It included legal back and forth between Bob's attorney and UC's attorney. It made the point that while the situation was handled clumsily, it wasn't all UC's doing.

You could argue the horse is dead, so stop the flogging. Great point. Truth is, I really don't like writing about this stuff. But part of my job is to write what people are talking about. Given the way the Bearcats played Saturday, lots of people were talking, again, about how Zimpher ruined the program when she "fired'' Huggins, and that the fact his "firing'' took so long killed recruiting for a year.

Not exactly true. For the details, read the column.

I have no dog in this fight. I get paid no matter what. And obviously, the way the school handled Huggins and AK showed a heavy-handedness that is discomforting. But perpetuating a falsehood does no one any good.

People will believe what they want, but one thing I have prided myself on in this job is not having agendas. What you get from me is what I feel, period. It doesn't make it right or wrong. It's just an opinion. As for UC hoops: Huggins landed softly and successfully. Mick Cronin in two years or three will have the program back in the NCAA tournament regularly. AK got what I suspect he wanted all along, a chance to go home and coach in the SEC. Things have a way of working out.


19 Comments:

at 11:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Paul,

I could not agree more. As a UC fan for 30 years and season ticket holder for 12 I try to take the long term view. It does not matter anymore what occurred 2 years ago but if it is necessary to put out the flare ups of ignorance that combust with every uc loss so be it. The future looks great and i'll be there watching and cheering.

 
at 11:56 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is going to be fun to watch. Between Xavier still simmering over Matta, and UC's indignant righteousness about this subject, let the war begin. Good luck Doc. Hope you can post some of the hate email.

 
at 12:03 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for finally clearing that up. Huggins is a great coach and did things for the university that Nancy can only hope to accomplish. With that being said, he knew what he was doing in regards to his contract demands. He knew the university was not going to budge and he would have to resign.

Although the situation was handled poorly by the AD and the President, it worked out for everyone's best interest. UC was not going to win a national championship under Huggs. He had his chances and those couple chances passed him by. He now gets to start over and he is doing a fine job. Kennedy is doing a great job in his home state, he has that program on the verge of getting in the tournament. And like you said, Cronin is going to do a great job here at UC. This year's team could compete in the A-10, but not in the Big East. Once he gets the horses (next year) he will be back. UC will win under Cronin.

 
at 2:23 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Doc,
What is the purpose of running a blog if the moderator (you) will not allow anything negative towards you to actually make it to the blog? C'mon bro, man up...
just a thought

 
at 2:31 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Huggs got to the top of the proverbial mountain in 3 or 4 years, right? Peaked quick with the back to back runs in 1992, 93.

His next decade plus he became literally fat and happy (sorry diehards). Things fell apart from within (recruits, academics, legal concerns). His Martin team had a chance at a very deep run (easy revisionists), but went down hard in Memphis.

The Emperor's problems increased as he took on Knightlike status locally, almost too big for his britches. Some handle praise more gracefully than others. Coach K is a good example, say what you will about the nasaly voiced weasal.

With the Big East on the radar, possibly the preeminent hoops conference, Huggs started to get a little nervous. More pressure, more stress, and eventual fallout. No longer was he looking at Metro/Great Midwest/Conference USA competition, because the new kid had moved to the neighborhood and would soon be on the playground.

To suggest that Cronin will just shake off the cobwebs and become part of the Big East elite is really a little silly. I think we need to keep things in perspective. Right now it's East Coast ballers v. Midwest dreamers.

 
at 3:27 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

For 12:03-

Your pathetic UC BareCats would have trouble competing in the Horizon League. Wright State and Butler would kick the crap out of Munchkin Mick's intramural squad.
Enjoy missing the NCAA tourney for the second year in a row.

 
at 4:09 PM Blogger Paul Daugherty said...

to 223:
I post everything that comes in that isn't profane, personal or generally offensive. Thanks for caring.

 
at 5:35 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Paul,
Huggs was gone the second Zimpher took the job. Huggs had too much power and she did not like that. After his DUI he did eveything the school asked of him. For all he did for the school did Nancy restore the rollover so he could recruit.....NO. How can you recruit when the reason people come to the school is for the head coach and he was obviously on the way out. I know many of UCATS and heard all the rumbling throughout the whole process. The program is in the shape it is in because Bob Huggins had to much power. If she would have tried to team up with Huggs instead of showing her power I wouldn't be writing this. And for that, and the way they treated Kennedy I will forever have a bad taste in my mouth for UC as long as she is there. I was there, like normal the last night they pulled the plug on the Kennedy's post game show. I was one of the two on the court shooting free throws and had the Hire Kennedy signs. I bled UC red, but what she did is unforgivable, especially since Huggs will never get any kinda recognition for what he did at the University. Maybe she didn't fire him, but when you look at the facts, he had no choice. For UC to compete with DUKE, North Carolina, Kentucky, and all those other top schools Huggs had to take a chance, but you knew every team that played UC knew they were in for a battle. That was just Huggs ball!!!!!

 
at 8:55 PM Blogger 42j said...

Paul, who is paying you to write such an article. Everybody knows what a stupid moves UC has made in 1 hiring Nancy Zimpher and 2 firing BoB Huggins. Some say its time to get over it, well guess what then get used to being a losing team and get over that, and get used to losing money that the man and his teams brought in to the University. Lets not forget the players that went on to the NBA who well represented UC. You can't say the man wasn't fired. If the Enquirer told you today that your contract was up and they weren't renewing it then guess what? you're fired Thats what happened to HUGGS and don't forget about the sham that happened to Andy Kennedy at the end of last year. It's a good thing I wasn't an alumni there because they definitely would never see my donation again and thanks to those who support HUGGS at K state.

 
at 1:21 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vox,

I seem to remember these pathetic Bearcats registering 10% of their wins against the team who is going to win the A10. You are right, they couldn't compete in the Horizon league but could in the A10. In the next 5 years the Cats will be back in the tournament every year just like they were under Huggins.

Dana Arsenault

 
at 9:02 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Huggins I see is doing great in Kansas, no big surprise since they were questioning his recruiting practices when he started their. Nick is ok, and I am sure he will be a good coach in the style of Pitino, no Huggs. As long as Nick wins against X I do not care if UC Bearcats ever go to the tournament. I got tired of Huggs not winning against the snobs, I mean X.

I have to admit I still follow Huggs and always liked his style of play but his grating attitude always wore down the players at the end of the year. So Huggs will only go so far until he learns this lesson. People only respond better to positive comments instead of all the negativity that Huggs puts out on his players.

 
at 9:59 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nick? Are you serious? You're trying to post something intelligent about UC basketball and you think our coach's name is Nick. And all you care about is beating Xavier? How ridiculous!

PD, you end by saying, "Things have a way of working out." Why will it take 2-3 for that to happen? It never should have been that long. Say what you will about Huggins and Zimpher, but I don't really call what's happening now "working out." I too believe Mick will bring UC back to prominence in the next couple of years, but there was no reason to allow something like this year to happen. Would you not agree?

 
at 8:43 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who is Huggs? And who is Zim? And who cares?

 
at 3:02 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Paul,
Do Greg Vehr, Barbara Rinto, and crew approve your stuff prior to publication ? You certainly know who pays your freight: the obsequious tone taken towards "Zim" provides a glimpse of your motivation to knock Huggins and prop up your boss.

Too bad Larry Nager wasn't as much of a corporate "diplomat" as you: I miss his well-written music reviews and interviews in The Enquirer.

UC will do well to make the NCAA field in the next decade. What is sad is that Nancy Zinpher, Phil Cox, George Schaefer, Jeff Wyler, et.al. won't care.

 
at 8:03 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

843, why don't you go crawl back under your rock

 
at 3:16 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why are we giving NaZi a pass. On her watch we had the bb students not studying costing us their services and a loss in the NIT game.

Now we have the sex tape recruiting scandal on her wathc.

There are a lot on unanswered questions, including:


Were there football recruits involved?

Was the girl involved asked to treat the recruits "special"? Did she? Who asked her to treat them special?

Like is there actually a sex tape?
If so, where is it?
If not, was it destroyed and by whom? by whose orders?

What safeguards were in place to protect against this type of situation?

The compliance officer thought there were no violations. Is she sure? Did she check with the NCAA?

Why did athletic department employee feel that to achieve justice for the incident, he/she had to go outside the administration?

Did anyone contact the NCAA to get their opinion if this incident was a violation(the only organization which really matters as far as sanctions are concerned)?

Why was the charge treated so lightly? Two weeks passed before the leak and now another 2-3 weeks and counting have gone by?

Where any of the football players disciplined? I remember during Huggins tenure there were suspensions for violations of team rules. Is this happening anymore? Were these included in team rules? If so and no one was punished, why not?

When did this actually occur? Was Kelly in charge? DeAntionio? Did Nancy put anyone in to oversee the students in the interim?

Is anyone "guaranteeing" that there will be no sanctions against UC by the NCAA?

Does the UC administration really want to know?

NaZi is still amazingly silent. Who would have figured that? The lawyers must still have her musseled!

 
at 1:51 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

If firing Huggs was a mistake then it was compounded when Zimpher and Thomas blew it by not hiring Kennedy. How many people can follow a legend and, not only succeed him but actually replace him in only one year? Andy did just that. He developed a great following and fan approval, but only got the shaft. By not being up front UC lost a second year of recruiting and we see the results. I have to think, given the same players UC had this year, that Andy or Huggs would have had a much better record than UC had. Mick might prove to be a decent coach, but he is no AK or Huggs. Nothing against Mick, but I can't see Huggs or Andy making
excuses about having an "inexperienced team", and "that is what you expect from an inexperienced team." What Huggs and Andy expected was 100% effort and no excuses. UC's administration totally mishandled this entire situation and now we see the results. It's not pretty!

 
at 8:14 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Huggins was just the first of several blunders.

Don't forget the students not studying last year when Nancy was in charge and supposedly overseeing an inexperienced interim coach.

Then there is the recruiting sex tape scandal and coverup.

She has alienated pre-NaZi graduates by dissing the education they received before Nancy arrived on her white horse.

She slammed all athletes as being the type that UC does not want to have.

She also is overseeing a budget crisis. We had none of these problems under Joe Steiger.

 
at 9:12 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

There appears to be yet another problem under Zimpher.

The Katowitz blog is reporting that there was money collected to build a boat house for the rowing team, but the money was mis-directed elsewhere.

It appears the university is having difficulty with its fiduciary responsibilites.

Another proud day for the university under the leadership of
Zimpher and the present board of trustees. I wonder if anyone explained the "trust" part of the word trustees to them. They're apparently it in for the title, presitige and not willing to do the work.

How about a little accountability from at least one of the trustees. the 3 stooges would have done a better job.

 
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