Every so often, I meet with The Dean and Justin Jeffre to discuss local happenings, goals for the future of Cincinnati, and sometimes just to shoot the breeze.  Last night, our normal conversation shifted to the firing of UC basketball coach Bob Huggins.  Jeffre admitted he wasn’t an avid Bearcats fan like his friend Nick Lachey, but still he played the role of “typical Cincinnatian,” rushing to the defense of Huggins and his “accomplishments.” On the campaign trail, Jeffre said he has been selling Cincinnati to the world, and his buddy Nick Lachey is often called “Mr. Cincinnati”—frequently seen on Newlyweds with his Bearcats gear, screaming in frustration and disappointment while watching UC play.  Jeffre informed me of Lachey’s passion about Huggins being fired and how he wrote letters to the Enquirer speaking in Huggins’ defense.  Such actions beg a few questions of these “spokespersons”:  Why are you obsessed with mediocrity? Why do you choose this cause to fight for? Do you think your love of mediocrity encourages more of Cincinnati to embrace mediocrity?

Bush steals two elections and people are relatively silent. The city sells fountain square and an affordable parking garage to private interests and people remain silent in spite of the fact that we are lied to about all the numbers. The firing of a mediocre basketball coach on the other hand caused students to put down their sweating beer mugs at Woody’s, organize their fraternities, make hostile t-shirts and cry about the injustices that have been done by “the man” (or woman in this case) to their precious and defenseless Bob Huggins.

I bring this topic up rarely as many Cincinnatians will string up Bob Huggins nay-sayers or burn them at the stake. They defend him as if he is the Pope and they are the most devout of Catholics. But what is it they are defending?

Bob Huggins is credited with bringing the University of Cincinnati from the doldrums of college basketball to becoming one of the elite teams of the entire nation. I will grant the Huggins supporters that he did have a good season some eleven years ago and gave the UC basketball program some type of recognition throughout the country.

One of the lines you hear from Huggins supporters is that “Coach got us to the tournament 14 years in a row.” That’s a true statement. What they won’t tell you is that out of those 14 years Bob Huggins and the UC basketball team lost in the early rounds (1st or 2nd) 10 times. What makes that worse is that UC would usually come in with a high seed and get upset by 10 seeds or little known teams that they should have plowed over.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am from Columbus, Ohio originally and we had a similar type of coach in my back yard at the Ohio State University. John Cooper was a football coach who would win Big Ten titles, get to bowl games, post winning records and do all the things that Bob Huggins accomplished on the hardwood. Like Huggins, Cooper had an incredibly mediocre record in the post-season.

Did Columbus herald coach John Cooper in the same fashion as Cincinnati worships the car-swerving Bob Huggins? Anyone who follows sports in the state of Ohio knows that is not the case. The fans of Ohio State football had called for his termination long before the Buckeye athletic department actually pulled the trigger. Ohio State football fans know that there is something better than just making it to the post-season. They believe that they can and should do better and will rise up until they get their wish.

Last night I was having a typical bar conversation about Bob Huggins with Justin Jeffre, a typical Cincinnatian, who jumps to the aid of Bob Huggins in spite of not even really being a sports fan. The debate circled around the point of Huggins being able to get to the NCAA tournament and I of course countered with the fact that he lost in the opening rounds (usually being upset) nearly every time.

I tried to detail the facts that UC had held the dubious honor of being Sports Illustrated Magazine’s “least rootable team,” that we had sagging graduation rates, and for some reason the majority of our coaches kept getting caught driving drunk. On top of that we had players who seemed to lack “moral fiber,” being caught with guns on campus is one such example. Sometimes I say this and get the laughable response that Bob Huggins was an advocate of social justice, giving these unfortunate criminals a second chance at life by allowing them in our university and on his basketball team. It had nothing to do with him needing thoroughbred athletes to continue his tournament appearance streak. He was just being Huggins the humanitarian.

Justin responded with “yeah, but he got us to the tournament every year.” That seems to be enough for the average resident of Cincinnati. Even though UC has been the perennial easy upset pick for even the most novice of sports fans who fill out a tournament bracket for $5 at their office.

For those who are still reading, this conversation is not really about sports or mediocre Bob Huggins at all. This is about Cincinnati’s obsession and satisfaction with mediocrity. The mindset of the city is such that just being 1 of the 64 teams in an NCAA tournament is as good as winning the national title. This is the city that goes 8-8 one year in football and suddenly Paul Brown stadium is sold out and rocking the city with cries of “Who-dey!?”.

This love of mediocrity is clearly not exclusive to sports. We have one of the worst daily papers in the nation and yet people continue to read it every day, I assume like the Bob Huggins situation people feel there is no other choice. The Dean of Cincinnati can point out the corruption of our city and county politicians, people will read it and some may even believe it. At the end of the year they will go back to their regular polling place and still punch the hole next to the name of the same person who has been proven corrupt. Cincinnati is content with their lazy or corrupt politicians (or basketball coaches) and feel that they can do no better.

This city is considered by many to be on the downswing. Point the finger anywhere you want but the fault is on us, the regular people of the city. We stopped believing we could do better. At some point we decided as a city that just getting to the tournament was enough to keep us happy. Somewhere along the line we decided that we would continue to buy the Cincinnati Enquirer as long as it was still 50 cents and available at the nearest street corner.

Bob Huggins is gone and even the Enquirer has come around to saying the sky is not falling. Andy Kennedy, a former assistant coach, is having equal or greater success than the beloved Bob Huggins in spite of the fickle fans who refuse to attend games or support the team as a way to stick it to Nancy Zimpher.

The city is failing because of peoples reluctance to change, the same reason our college basketball team was failing. There is an old cliche that says “if you keep doing what you’ve been doing, then you’re going to get what you’ve always got.” This is something that teachers or sports coaches throw out at you to make you believe that if you work a little harder than you will get more. I give you the same challenge now. When we begin as a city to take more pride in everything about Cincinnati, then that pride will cause me and you to demand more. More from our coaches, more from our politicians, more from ourselves. When this happens we will never again be considered a city that is on the downswing.

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