Huggins...don't let the door hit you

Bob Huggins has been asked to leave his post as the coach of the men's basketball program at University of Cincinnatti, a city I can't spell, let alone visit. That being said, this is long overdue. Forget about the fact that he seems to actively recruit felons - I'm a long-time fan of Jerry Tarkanian, so I'm not about to become judgemental.

It's the graduation rates, stupid.

Look - I'm the last one to begrudge someone like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, let alone a Ronnie Brown or Randy Moss for leaving school early to cash in on almost certain financial success. But the reality is that even at a school like Cincy that competes in the NCAA March Madness pretty much every year, virtually none of the players go on to success in the NBA. That's why it's such a benefit to those students recruited - it's the cheapest way to get a college education. That's what being a student-athlete is supposed to be.

Clearly, a lot of responsibility falls onto the student-athlete himself. But a coach fosters an environment for a player to thrive in. A coach can suspend a player for academic failures, or at the least preach the values of a good education. Huggins did none of that.

Statistics aren't too hard to find here -- the average student graduation rate at University of Cincy is just under 50%, and around the country it's not much higher than that. (Sad, but true.) Huggins teams had graduation rates that were lucky to be at 25% some years. I remember a few years ago it was in the single digits.

That's criminal, in my mind. And by the way, it's not like boosters can point to national championships as solace, he hasn't won anything in years. How long can one coast on getting the team into the Final Four back in 1992?

Not much longer, it seems. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Huggsy.