By: Justin Walker | WV Sports Chat
The Athletic’s CJ Moore recently released his list of Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Coaches of the 2000s. Former West Virginia coaches Bob Huggins and John Beilein both made Moore’s list.
Bob Huggins
Bob Huggins came in at the bottom of the ranking at number 25. This seems low for the Hall-of-Fame coach, who amassed over 900 wins in his career. However, we must keep in mind it was not an all time list. It was only for the decade of the 2000s.
During the 2000s, Huggins won a total of 466 games at three different schools: Cincinnati (2000-05), Kansas State (2006-07), and West Virginia (2007-23). He also made one Final Four (2010), won three regular season conference titles and three conference tournament championships. His teams made 16 total appearances in the NCAA Tournament since 2000.
Huggins’ ability to get maximum effort out of his players, and the fact his players adored him, were both mentioned by Moore as factors that played a role in the former coach’s success.
Moore does admit there’s a “what could have been” element to Huggins’ career had he not been forced to resign at Cincinnati. I will add that we could say the same as it relates to how his career ended at WVU. Were it not for his 2023 DUI arrest that forced him out, it’s very possible he may still be the head coach for the Mountaineers. He’d have accumulated more wins and possibly more postseason appearances as well. That 2023-24 roster would have been arguably his most talented WVU team since he arrived in 2007. Unfortunately, Huggins was never able to coach that team because of his forced resignation.
John Beilein
Moore ranked John Beilein at number 17 on his list. The writer specifically notes Beilein being ahead of his time with his two-guard offense, as well as his ability to spot “not-blatantly obvious talent.”
In addition to his time at West Virginia from 2002-2007, Beilein also coached at Richmond (2000-2002) and Michigan (2007-2019) during the 2000s. The basketball Hall-of-Famer accumulated 426 wins, two Final Four appearances, three regular season conference titles, two conference tournament titles and 11 total NCAA Tournament appearances during the 2000s.
While each coach did it in totally different ways, they are both worthy of their Hall-of-Fame status for what they did on the sidelines. Unfortunately, they will both go down as two of the greatest coaches to never win a national championship. Fortunately, though, WVU was part of the success of each coach and Mountaineer fans were able to experience their greatness.
One can debate whether or not these two coaches are ranked properly on this list by The Athletic. What cannot be argued, however, is the impact each coach had on the Mountaineer men’s basketball program.
Photo Credit: Heartland College Sports
