Letter to President Zimpher
Posted By: Mark SegerJuly 14, 2005
Dear President Zimpher,
I am writing to express my feelings regarding the status of head basketball coach Bob Huggins' contract. I strongly support Coach Huggins and believe that extending his contract is in the best interests of the University of Cincinnati.
I ask that you give consideration to my opinion based on my standing as a UC stakeholder. I am a 1984 graduate of the College of Business Administration, a long-standing member of UCATS (since 1989), a season ticket holder for both basketball and football, and an employer of UC students via the Co-Op program. As a small business owner in Cincinnati, I have employed 8-10 students over the past several years.
Your desire to continue to promote the University's academic, research and athletic standing is certainly commendable. No reasonable person could disagree with your objectives. I can appreciate that the "perception" of the basketball program may seem inconsistent with your overall mission. However, I urge you to ignore the public perception and base your decision on facts and loyalty. When dealing with peoples lives, we cannot be concerned with the perception of uneducated and uninformed people who find pleasure in ridiculing the successful.
I concede that there have been numerous times that situations in our basketball program have been a cause of embarrassment. I believe, however, that many of these situations are outside of the control of the head basketball coach. Over the past several years, Coach Huggins has made significant progress with graduation rates and has shown much less tolerance with the "second chance" athlete. His success on the court is unparalleled. Who can question his standing as Coach of the Decade in Conference USA, or his string of NCAA tournament appearances, or his winning percentage or win total. Without question, he is a great coach. One need look no further than Jason Maxiell to recognize the good that Coach Huggins has done. While I certainly appreciate the role that you and athletic director Bob Goin played in leading us to the Big East Conference, it is my opinion that Coach Huggins deserves a significant amount of credit. To abandon him now, after all that he has done for this University, outrages me. He has demonstrated his loyalty over and over again.
As I am sure that you are aware, the current status of his contract is detrimental to the recruiting process. Student-athletes will not give UC adequate consideration without more certainty regarding the future of the head basketball coach. I know it is not your intent to destroy the basketball program, but your position on this matter seems to lead in that direction.
Why not find a win-win? A zero-tolerance policy has already been put in place by Bob Goin. Why not extend Coach Huggins’ contract under those terms. An extension would provide the basketball program with the stability it needs and such terms (zero-tolerance) would provide you with the assurance you need to promote the image that we all want. If Coach Huggins failed under those circumstances, no one would place blame on the administration for his dismissal. An extension would put you back in the good graces of the basketball fans.
It puzzles me why the administration, under your leadership, is unable to find a satisfactory solution to this. Please reconsider your position and extend the contract.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mark J. Seger
I am writing to express my feelings regarding the status of head basketball coach Bob Huggins' contract. I strongly support Coach Huggins and believe that extending his contract is in the best interests of the University of Cincinnati.
I ask that you give consideration to my opinion based on my standing as a UC stakeholder. I am a 1984 graduate of the College of Business Administration, a long-standing member of UCATS (since 1989), a season ticket holder for both basketball and football, and an employer of UC students via the Co-Op program. As a small business owner in Cincinnati, I have employed 8-10 students over the past several years.
Your desire to continue to promote the University's academic, research and athletic standing is certainly commendable. No reasonable person could disagree with your objectives. I can appreciate that the "perception" of the basketball program may seem inconsistent with your overall mission. However, I urge you to ignore the public perception and base your decision on facts and loyalty. When dealing with peoples lives, we cannot be concerned with the perception of uneducated and uninformed people who find pleasure in ridiculing the successful.
I concede that there have been numerous times that situations in our basketball program have been a cause of embarrassment. I believe, however, that many of these situations are outside of the control of the head basketball coach. Over the past several years, Coach Huggins has made significant progress with graduation rates and has shown much less tolerance with the "second chance" athlete. His success on the court is unparalleled. Who can question his standing as Coach of the Decade in Conference USA, or his string of NCAA tournament appearances, or his winning percentage or win total. Without question, he is a great coach. One need look no further than Jason Maxiell to recognize the good that Coach Huggins has done. While I certainly appreciate the role that you and athletic director Bob Goin played in leading us to the Big East Conference, it is my opinion that Coach Huggins deserves a significant amount of credit. To abandon him now, after all that he has done for this University, outrages me. He has demonstrated his loyalty over and over again.
As I am sure that you are aware, the current status of his contract is detrimental to the recruiting process. Student-athletes will not give UC adequate consideration without more certainty regarding the future of the head basketball coach. I know it is not your intent to destroy the basketball program, but your position on this matter seems to lead in that direction.
Why not find a win-win? A zero-tolerance policy has already been put in place by Bob Goin. Why not extend Coach Huggins’ contract under those terms. An extension would provide the basketball program with the stability it needs and such terms (zero-tolerance) would provide you with the assurance you need to promote the image that we all want. If Coach Huggins failed under those circumstances, no one would place blame on the administration for his dismissal. An extension would put you back in the good graces of the basketball fans.
It puzzles me why the administration, under your leadership, is unable to find a satisfactory solution to this. Please reconsider your position and extend the contract.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mark J. Seger
