Monday, April 09, 2007

What to Expect from a Snake

I can understand why Kansas State fans are angry at Bob Huggins' departure after only one year in Manhattan. I feel for K-State...this is a school who won more Big Six/Seven/Eight titles than anyone else in their conference between World War II and 1990...more than even the hated Jayhawks. People forget that K-State was a basketball school long before Bill Snyder came around and turned the Little Apple into a football Mecca. But they fell into the abyss in the 1990's and got desperate for the good days. And desperate people make bad decisions. Hiring Huggins was a mistake before the ink dried on his contract.

And that's why the Wildcats cannot be too angry at Huggins. They should have known what they were getting when they brought that snake into town to resurrect the program. I've heard different variations of the old story but the story goes something like this...a turtle saves a snake's life by carrying it across a flooded river on it's back. Once on the other side the snake bites the turtle and the turtle asks "why did you just do that? I just saved you." And the snake responds, "what else did you expect. That's my nature...I'm a snake."

Kansas State should not be surprised today and they really shouldn't be angry. They should only be angry with themselves for bringing in the Riverboat con artist from Cincy in the first place. Huggins is a liar and a thief. He exploits people, using them for all their worth and then leaving them high and dry. Huggins' record was no secret. And now K-State in order to keep his ill-gotten recruiting class has hired one of his like-minded assistants as head coach...a man kicked out of the Florida High School Coach's Association for recruiting kids.

I hope things work out for the Wildcats. But as Dr. Phil says "past behavior is the best predictor for future behavior." I don't believe this will end pretty.