How Small, Spiteful, and Insecure Can a University Administration Be?

Quick hit: The University of Cincinnati’s official athletics web site disgracefully ignored the visit of the school’s previous men’s basketball coach in its story about the Senior Day game.
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Here are the first six paragraphs of The Associated Press Story on yesterday’s upset victory over West Virginia achieved by the University of Cincinnati (UC) men’s basketball team (bolds are mine):

Cincinnati gets win over W. Va. as Huggins looks on

CINCINNATI (AP) — Muscular forward Eric Hicks wrapped his arms around his former coach, Bob Huggins. Cheek-to-cheek, they squeezed, talked and cried.

The tears were just starting to flow.

There were more embraces all around Saturday after Hicks scored 18 points and led Cincinnati to a nostalgic 78-75 victory over West Virginia (No. 18 ESPN/USA Today, No. 16 AP), one that could extend the Bearcats’ streak of 14 NCAA tournament appearances.

“That was our Super Bowl,” interim coach Andy Kennedy said.

It felt like a title game.

Ousted coach Huggins attended a game at the arena for the first time since he was forced out last August. He got a standing ovation and hugged the Bearcats’ five seniors during pre-game festivities — a surreal start to an important game.

Now, here are the first five paragraphs from the school’s official UCbearcats.com site:

Bearcats Increase Chance Of Tournament Bid With Win Over No. 16 West Virginia 78-75

CINCINNATI, Ohio - On an emotional Senior Day at Fifth Third Arena, Cincinnati all but assured itself of an NCAA bid with a 78-75 win over No. 16 West Virginia in front of a sold out crowd on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Eric Hicks led the Bearcats (19-11, 8-8 BIG EAST) to the win, making 7-of-11 shots from the field to score 18 points with eight rebounds. Fellow seniors James White (15 points) and Jihad Muhammad (17 points) also scored in double-figures and Devan Downey had 16 points and 10 assists.

The Mountaineers (20-9, 11-5) were led by Kevin Pittsnogle’s 23 points and nine rebounds, while Mike Gansey added 20, making four three-pointers in the second half.

Downey’s two free throws with 1.3 seconds left clinched a win in which UC never trailed in the second half, but was never able to shake WVU completely. The teams combined to shoot .582 from the floor in the second half and make 11-of-21 three-pointers to score 85 total points.

“It was a grind,” said Bearcat head coach Andy Kennedy. “It was an appropriate ending. We played about as well as we could, hit them as hard as we could. They just kept coming. That is a quality basketball team. It was not given. Nothing this year has been given to us.”

Question for UC President Nancy Zimpher (who fired Bob Huggins, even though his admittedly non-stellar graduation rate for his players was HIGHER than the graduation rate at the school Ms. Zimpher previously ran for five years before coming to UC), Athletic Director Mike Thomas, and all the other apparatchiks in Clifton: How small, spiteful, and insecure can you be not to mention, not even once, the name of your former coach (the one with the most wins in UC basketball history), and the fact he was there to honor the kids he coached for three years at their final home game?

Maybe the problem is that the raw display of genuine human emotion Saturday was just too embarrassing for you to handle. Well, that’s just too bad (from later paragraphs in the AP story; bolds are mine):

The Bearcats’ final home game showed they still haven’t gotten beyond Huggins’ ouster. He repeatedly got standing ovations from the capacity crowd of 13,176, which also chanted for school president Nancy Zimpher to give Kennedy a contract.

The program is still at a crossroads.

After Downey made his two clinching free throws, Hicks jumped into the student section and Kennedy got a hug from Huggins. Kennedy then thanked the fans for supporting the team through its tribulations, adding, “One last thing: Huggs, we love you, brother.”

“I thought it took a lot of courage for coach to come,” Kennedy said afterward. “It shows you what kind of man he is. It’s a tribute to these seniors. They wanted him to come. I thought it was fitting going against his alma mater in a game that decided our season.”

Huggins was invited by Hicks, one of the five seniors who received framed photographs of themselves at midcourt during a pre-game tribute. Huggins stood at an opposite end of the court while the seniors were introduced.

Hicks then led the seniors over to Huggins, who embraced each of them while the crowd exulted. Hicks wiped away tears with his white warmup shirt after the embrace. Huggins dabbed a tear from the corner of his right eye.

“I wanted to be here, but I didn’t want to do anything they (the school) didn’t want me to do,” Huggins said.

While the two of them embraced, Hicks thought back to his three years under Huggins.

“Everything just came back and it was a very emotional moment,” he said.

Memo to Ms. Zimpher: I hear that there’s a famous university desperately seeking someone with your politically correct and hyper-hypocritical talents. Their president just resigned. Please, PLEASE, apply here.