Blade Speaks to Huger

So, The Blade was able to reach Coach Huger.  Lots of times, the fired coach doesn't do interviews, but he did.

I'd encourage you to go over and click the link to take a look at the full story.  They also spoke to the AD, though his response is mostly ADspeak.

Here's what I found interesting....

Once the [transfer] portal took hold and the NIL (name, image, and likeness), things changed. The whole landscape of college basketball changed, and you’ve got to adapt with that. At the time, we didn’t do a great job of adapting to it, and that was the thing. We tried some different things that didn’t work.

That's a pretty candid assessment and I think pretty accurate.  Once the early recruiting classes cleared out and the Turner, Plowden, Wiggins, Frye, Fields group moved along, BG simply did not have the talent to compete in the MAC.  I know there are a lot of critics of Huger's game management tactics, but to me, we simply didn't have the players.  Even the HS players we did get seemed to too often not be top-flight MAC players.

This has been our issue for a long time.  Being consistently competitive in the MAC requires a critical mass of good players and we simply have not had it the last two years and for most of the last 20 years or so.  The NIL and portal have made it harder, but teams are using it to succeed and we need to do that as well.