Bob Huggins had a very good record at the University of Cincinnati. He went 399-127 over 16 seasons. In his tenure, the Bearcats saw one final four, two elite eights, and 14 consecutive NCAA tournaments.
And in 2005, he was given 24 hours to resign or he’d be fired. Huh, that doesn’t line up… oh right, this is an episode of Beef History.
The problem was, UC had a brand new president, Nancy Zimpher, who was all about bettering the image and ranking of the school. Like, for real, not just for having something to say in speeches. And you might be thinking, that’s fine, the basketball program was the good image of the school. But here’s the thing, off-court there was a lot of… let’s say… unsavory-through-terrifying stuff going on, which made for some rather sensational headlines. A synonym for sensational: Bad for a school’s reputation.
The beef was on, alumni threatened to pull support, students wore Bob Huggins T-shirts, and booed the hell out of Zimpher every chance they got. Zimpher was unmoved by those persuasive arguments, and Huggins was out of a job.
