MORGANTOWN — The cars started to fill up the parking lot Saturday at The Hazel & J.W. Ruby Community Center Event Complex around 4 p.m. for the 13th annual Bob Huggins Fish Fry that was still 90 minutes from its start.
An hour later, the line to get into the event, which benefits Vandalia Health, the Remember the Miners organization and the Norma Mae Cancer Research Endowment Fund, had already stretched outside.
According to an event spokesperson, somewhere between 900 and 1,000 people were expected to attend. They had paid anywhere from $150 to $1,000 ($50 for WVU students) for the right to do so.
“The Fish Fry has grown and grown,” Huggins said. “I want it to be fun. I think it has been fun. I’ve been able to bring in some top-notch celebrities that our people can rub shoulders with. I think it’s been a great kick in the pants for the community.”
There is no indication found that Huggins has become some type of outcast since his forced resignation as the WVU head men’s hoops coach in the summer of 2023.
It might be true that his popularity has only grown, at least that’s how it appears on this night. Sure there is great interest to hear stories from professional golfer John Daly — this year’s celebrity guest — but Huggins is still the main attraction.
“I don’t know, do I have any popularity left?” Huggins asks.
He’s told there are hundreds of people waiting to get into the building that would answer positively.
“There’s also a couple of guys who want to chop my head off, too,” Huggins fires back, presumably speaking of WVU president E. Gordon Gee and athletic director Wren Baker. “I’d like for them to try. That would give me great satisfaction, them wanting to try to.”
The conversation eventually turns from fish to “his guys,” which is always how Huggins referred to his past players.
Just as Huggins was speaking about the love he’s been shown from his guys since his departure from WVU, someone walks up to him with a cell phone. On the other end of the call is Steve Logan, a former All-American at Cincinnati under Huggins.
There is no doubt the man can build relationships that stretch far beyond the basketball court. Huggins has a 41-year track record of doing just that.
And, oh yes, the man can win a few basketball games, too.
Are those enough for an athletic director somewhere out there to pick up the phone and give the man a call?
“I will coach again,” Huggins said. “What else am I going to do? It’s all that I know. It’s who I am. It’s what I’ve done. I don’t know if there is anything else I’m suited for.”
Confidence rings from his voice in saying that, and Huggins added he would be open to any situation. At the same time, he admits he’s likely done all that he can do at WVU.
Off the court, Huggins was always, well, just a normal, humble and funny guy, an everyday man who just happened to be fiery and imposing while on the basketball court.
On this night, it was a quiet and reserved Huggins again, so much so that you had to lean in at times to hear what he was saying. He still gave an impression that this second season away from the sidelines is weighing on him a bit.
If the game of basketball would just give back an ounce of gratitude that Huggins has given the game, there won’t be a third.
“I’m different,” Huggins said. “There’s a lot of people who do what I do, but they didn’t grow up in West Virginia. They didn’t grow up on Dug Hill. I grew up in the holla. I’ve been blessed.”
