Huggins walks line for his players

By PAUL GOTHAM

BUFFALO, N.Y. —  His court side demeanor fetches criticism, but Bob Huggins doesn’t care. The people who know him best see a different person, and that’s what matters most.

“People see me in the workplace, you know,” Huggins said during Wednesday’s pre-game media session at Key Bank Center.  “It’s like I told some guy one time, he screamed at me the whole game, you know, over the rail and all that. I told him, ‘how would you like me to go to your place of work and scream and yell at you.'”

And for effect, Huggins didn’t let the opportunity get away.

“When you’re frying those French fries at McDonald’s, would you want me screaming at you?”

His stature, visage and dress all play into a rough exterior, but his players understand.

“Hugs is a two-sided person,” Nathan Adrian said. “There’s what people see and what people perceive him to be and then what he actually is, and that’s an extremely loyal, kind-hearted guy, honestly. I mean, he cares about us more than anyone I’ve ever known, any coach I’ve seen or been around. He’s definitely a different guy than what you think.”

Not that anyone needs reminding, but Huggins’s teams win. He has taken the Mountaineers to the NCAA Tournament in eight of his 10 years in Morgantown reaching the Final Four in 2010.

“You got to take him serious,” Elijah Macon added. “I mean, he wants to win. Just a fire in his belly, he just trying to put it inside of us. We’re reading off of him, going off how he feels. Like if he’s mad, then we should be mad. If he’s having a good day, the we should have good day. I just feel like that’s how it’s been.”

But it doesn’t stop Huggins from having fun. Ask him about the time he made the change to his trademark pullover.

“I had a suit and tie on, and we’re playing somebody, and I’m at Cincinnati, and I go in, and I’m like I got to put something different on, because I had sweat all of the way through my suit and my vest. They were heavy.

“So they brought me in a pullover, and I put it on and coached the second half in a pullover, and I was walking in, my A.D. said, I just want to tell you look really good in that pullover. That’s what really coaches should wear. So I started wearing one. Which was good until I got the new president, and the A.D. denied saying I looked good in a pullover. So, be careful who you trust, is the moral of that story.”

Or his relationship with Villanova head coach Jay Wright.

“I’ve known Jay for a long, long time. I mean, I know I don’t look like it, but I’ve been in this business 40 years, so I know everybody. And we were in the same league for a long time. You know, I think a great time for coaches to get together is at the league meetings. We get to spend a lot of time socially together, eat together, you know, hang out together, so, yeah, I know Jay well.

“I keep telling him, if I’d lose a little bit of weight, he’d be the second-best looking coach out there, but to this point, I haven’t been able to do that.”

The Mountaineers lead the nation in turnover margin (8.2), turnovers forced per game (20.4) and steals (10.4). They average 25.4 points per game off turnovers. WVU has scored as many as 47 points in a 100-41 victory over New Hampshire earlier in the season and have not scored in single digits this season on points off miscues. They forced 29 turnovers when they beat then No. 1 Baylor, 89-68. Mountaineer opponents turn over the ball 27.5 percent of their possessions.

West Virginia fell in the first round to No. 14-seed Stephen F. Austin, 70-56.

West Virginia (26-8) opens against NCAA Tournament West Region play against No. 13-seed Bucknell (26-8). A 2:45 tip off is scheduled.