When word began circulating behind the scenes about Bob Huggins' declining health this week, I immediately thought of one guy.
Steve Logan.
No one represented Huggins' greatness as a basketball coach more than the former University of Cincinnati All-American guard.
Huggins took an underrated and undersized kid raised by his grandmother in inner-city Cleveland and made him great. Huggins was brutally hard on Logan during his early days at UC in the late 1990s, even called him a "fat kid" to try to motivate the pudgy point guard.
In return, Logan responded by developing into a four-year starter, team leader and star on some of the best teams of Huggins' hall-of-fame career from 1998-2002. Logan is one of three former Bearcats greats, along with Nick Van Exel and Kenyon Martin, scheduled to speak at Huggins' induction ceremony into UC's James P. Kelly Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 23.
Huggins was loyal to Logan. Huggins loved Logan. And vice versa. They remain close to this day, an unbreakable bond between coach and player, even as Huggins copes with a progressive cognitive condition, which became publicly known on Oct. 21.
Four years ago, Huggins returned to Cincinnati for a reunion to celebrate the 1992 Final Four team. Huggins and Logan had a moment to speak while the coach and a bunch of former players were at dinner that weekend. It's a conversation Logan told me he'll never forget.
"He said, ‘Lo, I’ve coached a ton of guys. I've coached a lot of guys who've gone onto the NBA. But I can count on one hand how many guys mastered me – and you are one of those guys,' " Logan said on Wednesday. "I still get goosebumps thinking about him telling me that."
Logan added: "He’s a lot of things in one – father figure, mentor. I want people to know that he had a big, loving side to him."
Huggins, 73, will be celebrated this weekend for returning UC basketball back to national relevance during his 16 seasons in Cincinnati. The hall of fame plaques – Huggins has one in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – highlight the wins and NCAA Tournament success. But it's guys like Steve Logan who epitomize the type of coach Huggins was. He recruited a lot of guys who weren't superstars coming out of high school, was tough on them and then remained loyal for a lifetime to the guys who bought into his system.
Logan led Lakewood St. Edward to a state championship as a senior in 1998. I covered him in the state tournament that year. Logan was certainly recruited by some big programs. But at 5-foot-11 with chubby cheeks and a muffin top, Logan was far from a surefire college star.
"I had a lot of talent, but I didn’t know how to work," Logan said. "When I first got (to UC), he was calling me the 'little fat kid from Cleveland.' I said, 'I don’t really like that.' He didn’t care. He said, 'Until you get in shape, that’s what I’m going to call you.' "
Logan added: "That’s why I wanted to go play for him. It’s rough. It’s tough. He used that to motivate me. He's a genius."
Kenyon Martin, another guy who "mastered" Huggins, left UC as the national player of the year after Logan's sophomore season. Logan was fully bought into Huggins' system by then, in great shape and had earned the coach's trust to take over as team leader. And once you've earned Huggins' respect, he'd let players give it back to him sometimes. He and Logan could butt heads and neither took it personal.
Huggins would tell beat reporters about Logan: "He gives hope to fat people."
"I said, 'What are going to call me now?' " Logan said. "He couldn't call me 'fat' anymore. That's when he started calling me 'Lo.' "
Logan ranks second all-time in scoring at UC, sandwiched between Oscar Robertson and Huggins-era star Danny Fortson on the list. Logan got there on sheer will, following Huggins' blueprint of constantly being in the gym, studying film and playing hurt at times.
Huggins came to love Logan so much that the coach let the player leave the team for a few days during the 2001 NCAA Tournament. Logan's grandmother was sick and near death when UC was in Southern California preparing to play in the Sweet Sixteen. Not many coaches would do that, a testament to the special relationship Huggins and Logan had built.
"He allowed me to take the trip to talk to her, to hug her," Logan told former Enquirer reporter Bill Koch for his 2022 book titled "Huggs." "I’m forever grateful to him for doing that."
How bought into Huggins' system was Logan?
Logan plans to share a story during Huggins' induction ceremony about when he played with a severe ankle sprain in the championship game of the 2000 Puerto Rico Holiday Classic. Logan had suffered the injury in the second game of the tournament.
"It was bad," Logan said. "They carried me off the floor and took me to the emergency room. The doctor diagnosed me with a high ankle sprain, gave me crutches and said I'd be out 3-5 weeks. We're back at the hotel. I'm sobbing. Huggs comes to my room. He looked at me and said, ‘Lo, the doctors don’t know what they’re talking about. We need you to play tomorrow.' "
"Tomorrow?" Logan responded to his coach.
Huggins said: Team trainer Jayd Grossman "is going to rub your ankle down all night and in the morning you’re going to feel better and we’re going to win this championship."
"And it happened just like that," said Logan, who also shared that story in Koch's book.
Logan took over that game against 17th-ranked Alabama, scoring 9 of his 13 points during an 11-1 second-half run to lead UC to a 77-74 overtime win.
"That’s the mental toughness that rubbed off on his players," Logan said. "It was him saying, 'I just need you to give me what you have in the championship game.' He taught you life lessons about always going to work, even when you’re hurting and tired. He knew how to get the best out of you."
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC Bearcats legend captures Bob Huggins' legacy perfectly | Williams