KU basketball’s Bill Self comments on Bob Huggins, who has resigned as WVU head coach

Bill Self says he’ll greatly miss coaching against Big 12 rival and longtime friend Bob Huggins this season.

“We are all sad for that,” Self, Kansas’ 21st-year head men’s basketball coach, said Tuesday, asked about fellow Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Huggins submitting his resignation Saturday after 16 years as West Virginia coach following Friday’s arrest on suspicion of DUI.

“It’s obviously awful for ‘Huggs’ the way it went down. It’s not good for our league because he was so good for our league. You guys know how I feel (about Huggins, who has been coach at WVU since 2007 after a year at Kansas State). I love the guy. I hate the way it went down. (I’m) certainly not making excuses nor would Bob make excuses, but he will certainly be missed,” added Self who has contacted Huggins via text since the resignation was announced.

The two have combined forces for charitable causes.

In February of 2022, Self attended the 10th-annual Bob Huggins Fish Fry at Mylan Park fundraiser, which benefits the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Endowment Fund at the WVU Cancer Institute and the Remember the Miners Flagship Scholars program.

Self was guest speaker at the event the night before a KU-WVU game.

“I was tired of watching WVU foul on tape so I came here,” Self said to laughter from the audience in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Huggins responded: “Well, you know, I never knew you could guard people out of bounds before I started playing Kansas.”

More than $2.5 million was raised that night.

“I seriously believe we are going to raise the funds to build a cancer hospital and we desperately need it in this state,” Huggins said that evening. “... If I can leave this state in a positive way that will remain relevant and continue to help the people of West Virginia, I’m going to do. I’m proud to do it.”

Self on a serious note said at the fundraiser: “Sometimes, you take for granted how good you have it because a person or a figure is so visible to the people in the area, and that’s what you’ve got with this guy. There’s nobody that’s better for our game or is more of a personality that brings interest than Bob does. I felt the same way when he was at K-State. Now, I’d rather him be in Morgantown than Manhattan, but I did feel that as well.”

Huggins in January of 2018 presented Self a Huggins-style pullover that Self wore while coaching against Huggins’ Mountaineers in West Virginia. Huggins wore his West Virginia pullover that game.

Self was unable to attend Huggins’ Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Sept. 10, 2022, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Self was inducted in the Hall in September of 2017.

“I’ve talked to ‘Huggs’ too many times since he was inducted,” Self joked. “That (induction) was back in September. Anybody who has won that many games like Huggs has ... he’s won over 900 games in 41 years and that’s with taking a year off and some other stuff. He’s been absolutely great for our sport. You guys (media) know how I feel about him.”

Huggins spoke of Self at last season’s Big 12 tournament. KU’s coach had to miss the tourney because of his undergoing a heart procedure.

“I want Bill to get well, I want to say as soon as he can, but really I think what I need to say, or I mean to say is I want him to come out of there (the hospital) the way he’s always been,” Huggins said last spring.