West Virginia University
basketball coach Bob Huggins, who has won 616 career games and led the
Mountaineers to an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 appearance this past season,
has agreed to a contract extension until he is 65 years old, WVU
announced today.
Terms of the contract will be announced next week.
"This is a very exciting day for WVU and the state of West
Virginia," says President Mike Garrison. "Coach Huggins is proud to be
an alumni and proud to be a West Virginian. We are very lucky to have
him leading our student athletes."
Huggins, 54, led the Mountaineers to 26 victories in 2007-08,
winning more games than any other first-year coach in school history. He
also became the first Mountaineer coach to take a WVU team to the NCAA
Sweet 16 in his first season. Huggins became the 29th Division I coach
to reach 600 victories when his WVU squad defeated Canisius on Dec. 22,
2007.
After being predicted to finish 10th in the BIG EAST preseason
coaches’ poll, Huggins led the Mountaineers to a fifth-place regular
season finish and a semifinal appearance in the BIG EAST championship.
Huggins was recently named 2007-08 College Coach of the Year by the West
Virginia Sports Writers Association.
“This is a good marriage,” says athletic director Ed
Pastilong. “He’s returned home to his state and his alma mater. He
took us to the Sweet 16 in his first year and he’s having a great
recruiting year. Bobby is committed to winning a national championship
here at his alma mater.”
Huggins, who was introduced as West Virginia University’s 21st
men’s basketball coach on April 6, 2007, has compiled a 616-222 (.736)
record in his 26 seasons as a head coach, which includes stints at Walsh
College (1980-83), Akron (1984-1989), Cincinnati (1989-2005), Kansas State (2006-07) and West Virginia (2007-). He ranks fifth in total
victories and eighth in winning percentage among active Division I head
coaches.
Huggins’ teams have participated in postseason play in 23 of
his 26 seasons, including 16 NCAA tournament appearances. His squads
have won 20 or more games in all but four of his 26 campaigns, including
30 or more twice, and he has averaged 23.6 victories a season.
“I’ve been confident in Ed Pastilong and Mike Garrison since
the day I got here,” says Huggins. “They have been great to work for
and I thank them for allowing me to continue to work for them.”
A two-time Academic All-American, Huggins graduated from West
Virginia magna cum laude in 1977 and received his master’s in health
administration from WVU in 1978.
Huggins was a three-year letterman for the Mountaineers from
1975-77.
Huggins was born in Morgantown on Sept. 21, 1953. He and his
wife June have two daughters, Jenna Leigh and Jacqueline.