Bob Huggins stumps for Louisville basketball coaching job, says it 'fits me perfectly'
A Hall of Fame coach would like to be considered for the Louisville men's basketball job.
It's Bob Huggins.
Huggins, 70, is not on athletics director Josh Heird's radar to succeed Kenny Payne. But he publicly expressed interest in the opportunity for the first time during an appearance Wednesday morning on WKRD 790 AM's Jerry Eaves Sports Radio.
"I think it's something that fits me perfectly," he said.
"There's absolutely no reason why I can't come into Louisville and make Louisville what it was before."
Huggins offers 41 years of experience across five different schools. He's won 935 games and owns a .693 career winning percentage; he's appeared in 26 NCAA Tournaments and reached the Final Four twice.
His past does, however, clash with Heird's "high threshold" for "integrity."
Huggins has been twice charged with driving under the influence. The most recent occurrence, on June 16, 2023, in Pittsburgh, led to his resignation from his last head-coaching job, West Virginia.
According to a police report obtained by USA TODAY Sports, Huggins failed standard field sobriety tests and blew a 0.210, more than two times Pennsylvania's legal limit, on a breathalyzer test. Officers also noted bags of empty beer cans and beer bottles in his car.
That happened a little more than a month after he used a homophobic slur to describe Xavier fans during an appearance on a Cincinnati radio station and had to issue a public apology.
On Wednesday, Huggins told Eaves he "decided to change my life" after his second DUI. He said he went to, and completed, a rehab program and hasn't had a drop of alcohol in more than 300 days.
"I'm on the right path," he said.
And he thinks he could coach at Louisville for 10 or 15 years — even with things such as the NCAA transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation rapidly changing the game.
"I would want to be, and do, what coach (Denny) Crum did," Huggins said. "I've always had a love for Louisville, believe it or not. I love going to Louisville and playing. I love the fan base, the way they embrace the team."
Whoever gets the job faces a daunting task — restoring the Cardinals to national prominence after they won only 12 games during Payne's tenure and saw average scanned ticket attendance fall to 6,504 at the 22,090-seat KFC Yum! Center.
Huggins told Eaves he hasn't closely followed U of L recently. But he compared the situation to the one he faced when he took over Cincinnati in 1989; the Bearcats were mired in a 12-year March Madness drought.
"Cincinnati was in dire straits when I got there; and the city of Cincinnati fell in love with what we did, the way we played, who we played.
"We weren't afraid to play anybody; and I think the people we brought in to Cincinnati to play were people who ended up being NBA All-Stars. And I think (fans) appreciated the fact that we didn't hide from anybody. We were going to play whoever it was.
"'Line them up, and let's go play' — I think that's the mentality that Louisville people would like to see. Not running and hiding from people; but rather challenging people; 'Come on. We're ready. Come try to beat us.'"
The most prominent contenders for the U of L vacancy as of Wednesday morning were Charleston's Pat Kelsey and New Mexico's Richard Pitino.
Heird's pursuits of two candidates, Baylor's Scott Drew and Florida Atlantic's Dusty May, didn't work.
Last week, Drew publicly shot down the notion he would leave the powerhouse he has built in Waco, Texas, over the course of two decades. May then accepted the head-coaching job at Michigan.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball coaching search: Bob Huggins stumps for job
