Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Hopefully Bob Huggins won't be back. This is not someone that is fit to be a part of college athletics. His graduation issues have already been well documented, and he is a terrible example and leader for young athletes. He is a bad reflection on the University of Cincinnati, and it's not as if he is a successful basketball coach, beating up on the Conference USA bottom feeders year after year and then losing on the first weekend of the tournament. The funny part is Huggins was an academic all american during his playing days at West Virginia. What happened?

Huggins had a "rollover" clause in his contract that basically renewed itself for the aforementioned 4 year commitment if he met certain criteria each year. Following the DUI arrest, the rollover clause was removed from the contract and this year, after meeting with the U. higher ups . . . they decided not to renew his contract at all leaving him with two years remaining. All media outlets are reporting that the U and Huggins are negotiating a buyout of his contract. The contractual buyout is for $700,000 for each of the two years left. The U is just basically trying to see if they can find the money to do it.

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From the AP tonight:
CINCINNATI (AP) - Bob Huggins will keep coaching basketball at
the University of Cincinnati on a limited contract.
Huggins today accepted the school's decision not to extend his
contract beyond the two years remaining.
He used to have a rollover provision that automatically added a
year onto the deal each summer. That was nullified following his
drunken driving arrest last year.
The school notified him last week that he wouldn't have any more
years tacked onto the deal. Huggins had the option of taking a
buyout provision in the contract, but wants to stay and fulfill the
contract.
Huggins met briefly with the media tonight. He didn't take any
questions, but said during a 3-minute statement that he's confident
everything will work out.
Huggins has led the Bearcats to 14 consecutive appearances in
the N-C-A-A tournament. His program also has a history of player
arrests and infractions, which led to N-C-A-A probation in 1998.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Everything that I have heard thus far indicates that UC's new president Nancy Zimpher is unwilling to commit to Huggins and her stamp as president may be the ouster of Bob Huggins. A move as bold as allowing Bob to move on after his contract expires will make or break her presidency at UC. I've heard she's not happy with graduation rates and the JUCO stigma the UC hoops program has. If Bob is successful this year in the Big East, I think she has no choice but to renew his contract. However, if UC struggles even one bit, she may have her excuse to let him move on. We'll just have to wait and see.

TG beat me to posting the wire copy. Glad to see someone else has the wire services handy.