We could have had him

[smazza]

New faces emerge on Big 12 benches

Updated 11/3/2006 12:37 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this  

 

Enlarge By Mike Shepherd for USA TODAY

Bob Huggins is one of six new coaches in the Big 12 this season, which he hopes will lead to a revival in the league. "Anytime there's change," Huggins says, "I think that kind of creates enthusiasm."

At just 31, new Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel is the second youngest coach in major-college hoops.

By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY

Where have you gone, Roy Williams? Kelvin Sampson? Eddie Sutton?

They  and Texas' Rick Barnes  coached the Big 12 through the conference's not-so-long-ago basketball glory years, a three-season stretch from 2002-04 in which it accounted for a third of the teams that reached NCAA Tournament regional finals and five of the 12 that played into the Final Four.

Only Barnes is still around today.

Introductions are in order as a remarkably made-over league enters the 2006-07 season. Six of its 12 coaches are new, from out-of-exile Bob Huggins at Kansas State to Sean Sutton sliding into the place of his retired father, Eddie, at Oklahoma State. Only three coaches have more tenure than Scott Drew, going into his fourth season at Baylor and just turned 36 last month.

CAROUSEL IN OVERDRIVE: Full list of coaching changes

Colorado's Ricardo Patton is the lone link to the Big 12's birth in 1996-97, and he'll be gone by early April. He wanted an extension of his contract, which expires after this season. The school made no offer. And Patton, whose program has gone three years without an NCAA Tournament appearance, said he "will neither seek nor accept" a new deal with the Buffaloes.

Three Big 12 coaches were fired or forced out at or near the end of last season, replaced in succession by Greg McDermott at Iowa State, Huggins and Mike Anderson at Missouri.

Sampson then left Oklahoma for Indiana, and the Sooners hired Jeff Capel, at 31 the second-youngest coach in major-college basketball, from Virginia Commonwealth. Sean Sutton, who'd stepped in for his father after Eddie Sutton's February arrest for driving under the influence, took over permanently three months later. Finally, Doc Sadler moved from Texas-El Paso to Nebraska when Barry Collier left to become athletics director at Butler.

A league that saw five coaching changes in five previous years counted those six hires in less than five months. But a league that has gone relatively quiet on the court the last couple of years, seeing just three of its 10 NCAA Tournament entries reach the Sweet 16, and only one  second-seeded Texas last March  get beyond that, has a new bounce in its collective step.

"I think things will change for the better. I really do. I think the respective institutions made great hires," says Kansas coach Bill Self, who took over the Jayhawks when Williams left for North Carolina a little more than three years ago and starts this season with the No. 3-ranked team in the USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches' Poll. "You look at the background of all the guys that have been hired, (and) they have all made an impact on the game, not only regionally but nationally."

"Anytime there's change," Huggins says, "I think that kind of creates enthusiasm."

Certainly, his arrival has charged the air in Manhattan, Kan., where the once-formidable Wildcats have finished no better than tied for sixth in 10 seasons of Big 12 basketball. Huggins built a machine at Cincinnati, averaging 25 wins in each of his 16 seasons and taking the Bearcats to 14 consecutive NCAA Tournaments before his players' questionable behavior and academic record and his own DUI arrest soured the school's president. Cincinnati bought out his contract, and Huggins took a year off before landing at K-State.

Big-time recruiting prospects suddenly are interested in the Wildcats. Season ticket sales are nearly maxed out. And bottom line, Huggins' intensity and fanaticism for defense have made Kansas State an immediate factor in the Big 12. It's picked to finish fifth, which would put the Wildcats in the NCAA picture in March.

"It's been intense, man. It's been crazy. A lot of running and up and down the floor," says senior swingman Cartier Martin, who led the 'Cats in scoring, rebounding and steals last season. "We're playing some tough defense (in practices). We've been pressing a little bit. We've got some transition going. He has us working. If you're not out there giving 100%, there are consequences. And you don't want those."

It isn't just Huggins picking up the Big 12's pace. Missouri will run a version of the "40 Fastest Minutes of Basketball" that Anderson installed for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Sadler brings an aggressive, up-tempo style to Nebraska. Sean Sutton says he'll retain "90%" of his dad's system but accelerate some at Oklahoma State, and Capel prefers speed to Sampson's blue-collar approach at OU.

The league's Q rating has risen, too. ESPN was quick to make Kansas State's Jan. 8 game vs. Texas Tech part of its Big Monday, offering an attractive viewing alternative  Huggins vs. Bob Knight  to college football's BCS title game. Self and Kansas are leading Final Four contenders. Barnes took Texas there in 2003.

"I know I have a challenge in front of me. We are in a great league ... and there are some great coaches in this league," Missouri's Anderson says.

But the former assistant to Nolan Richardson at Tulsa and Arkansas has taken part in three Final Fours and was on the bench when the Razorbacks won the 1994 national title. He, for one, isn't intimidated.

"I don't want to be like Nolan Richardson. I want to be better than Nolan Richardson. That's just me," Anderson says. "If you see me in a fight with a bear, you better help the bear."

[Guest Rueben_Horowitz]

Since anyone can go and edit Wikipedia pages, I don't consider it a realiable web site.   In fact I can go change it to read, "although there were reports that he was interested in the job at the University of South Florida. USF did not hire him because they had a coach under contract and Huggins was  never a serious candidate"

As my boy Fred said - He who defends everything, defends nothing.

[smazza]

fred is a wise man

[USFMikeB]

You can be fairly certain that a member of the darkside added that reference to Huggins in Wikipedia.  Nobody else even knows who Mac is...

[Apis Bull]

Since anyone can go and edit Wikipedia pages, I don't consider it a realiable web site.   In fact I can go change it to read, "although there were reports that he was interested in the job at the University of South Florida. USF did not hire him because they had a coach under contract and Huggins was  never a serious candidate"

As my boy Fred said - He who defends everything, defends nothing.

That's very nice, but I'm not sure how that applies here.

[Herman_Momart]

why do i think ksu will now wear black uniforms?

I wouldnt doubt they change to mostly black.  Its a new face to a new era in kansas state.  Program is going places.  

[Herman_Momart]

You can be fairly certain that a member of the darkside added that reference to Huggins in Wikipedia.  Nobody else even knows who Mac is...

Too funny!  ;D

[Guest Rueben_Horowitz]

Since anyone can go and edit Wikipedia pages, I don't consider it a realiable web site.   In fact I can go change it to read, "although there were reports that he was interested in the job at the University of South Florida. USF did not hire him because they had a coach under contract and Huggins was  never a serious candidate"

As my boy Fred said - He who defends everything, defends nothing.

That's very nice, but I'm not sure how that applies here.

LOL, right.

It means that I'm not blinded by loyalty.

[Apis Bull]

I'm not either, I stated the facts as I understand them.  Do you have any proof to the contrary?

[Triple B]

You can be fairly certain that a member of the darkside added that reference to Huggins in Wikipedia.  Nobody else even knows who Mac is...

That makes sense. Whoever did it spelled Mac's name wrong and we all know the Dark Siders are not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier.