During the Conference USA tournament last March, a couple of reporters were asking University of Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins about being named in a Las Vegas newspaper as a potential candidate for the UNLV job. Just then, Charlie Spoonhour walked by.

        “There's the next coach at UNLV,” Huggins said loud enough for Spoonhour to hear.

        They both laughed. Spoonhour never broke stride.

        Roughly three weeks later, Spoonhour was named coach of the Runnin' Rebels. Did Huggins know?

        “I knew more than most people knew,” he said with a smile. “I think it's great for college basketball. We need guys like that in the business.”

        That Huggins might have some inside info should come as no surprise. Spoonhour, who coached at Saint Louis for seven years before resigning in March 1999, is Huggins' closest friend in college basketball, not counting his own staff.

        The two speak — on average — every other day.

        During the 14-month long NCAA investigation of the UC basketball program, Spoonhour and Huggins talked daily.

        “If I didn't call him by a certain time, he'd call me just to make sure everything was all right,” said Huggins, whose Bearcats play host to UNLV at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. “He's really a great friend.”

        Said the man they call “Spoon”: “I tease him every chance I get, but if I had a real problem, I think Bobby's the one guy I know that I could call and he would really try to help.”

        Huggins is 48 years old; Spoonhour is 62.

        Spoonhour isn't just media friendly, he was the media for the past two years as an analyst for Missouri Valley Conference, Saint Louis University and Oklahoma telecasts. Huggins has never been thought of as a “media darling.”

        Spoonhour's playing career consisted of three years at College of the Ozarks, where he claims to have been a horrible shooter. Huggins was a two-time academic All-American at West Virginia and the Mountaineers' most valuable player as a senior.

        Spoonhour's first job was in 1961 at Rocky Comfort High School in Missouri, where he coached basketball, baseball, girls softball and girls volleyball. He coached high school ball for seven years, junior college for eight years and was a Division I assistant for seven years before landing the head coach's position at Southwest Missouri State in 1983.

        Just picture Huggins coaching girls softball or volleyball. He was a graduate assistant at West Virginia his first year out of school, spent two years as an Ohio State assistant, then became a head coach at the age of 27 at Walsh College in 1980.

        “He's got a lot of respect for (former Ohio State coach) Eldon Miller, who I worked for and who I've got a lot of respect for,” Huggins said of Spoonhour. “And I'm a lot more old-school. I'm not the new wave of coaches, so to speak. So I think, at least from a basketball standpoint, I've got more in common with the older guys than maybe the younger guys.”

        Spoonhour had heard of Huggins from Miller, but the two didn't meet until Spoonhour's first Great Midwest Conference league gathering. Spoon had just taken over at Saint Louis, and Huggins was preparing for his fourth season with the Bearcats.

        Huggins was hoping to build camaraderie among the league's coaches and arranged for several to go out to dinner. Huggins believes there is nothing wrong with hanging out with other coaches whether they're playing each other or not.

        “That's the way I've always felt, too,” Spoonhour said. “For that reason, I kind of liked the guy.”

        They hit it off immediately. Over the years, they have talked often into the early hours of the morning. They talk at all times of the day. Sometimes they commiserate. Sometimes they just need a laugh.

        When Nike officials would ask Spoonhour about attending a trip or clinic, he first asked whether Huggins was coming. Said Spoon: “A lot of times somebody will call up and say, "Will you do this?' And before I can try to think up a reason to get out of it, they'll say, "Huggs said he'd do it, if you would.' I've heard that a lot.”

        Before the 1995 Great Midwest Conference tournament final between UC and Saint Louis, Spoonhour and Huggins went for a long walk. They were gone more than two hours, and Spoonhour missed the Billikens' pre-game meal. He ate with the Bearcats.

        “Contrary to what people think, this isn't a war,” Huggins said. “... It's a hard business; you need to have some fun, too.”

        “The thing most people miss in Bobby is they don't realize how much fun he is, along with being a good person,” Spoonhour said. “Some guys, when they become successful as coaches, they have a tendency to believe they are really smart. That's not part of him at all. You can tease him; he's just one of the guys.”

        This will be the 18th time Huggins and Spoonhour meet.

        Cincinnati won 14 of 17 games when Spoon was at Saint Louis. Saturday's game was already scheduled when Spoonhour got the UNLV job. Barring an NCAA Tournament matchup, they won't play each other again.

        “I look forward to seeing him,” Spoonhour said. “I respect him and I enjoy him. That won't keep us from screaming during the game.

        “I don't enjoy the game, no. If we never had this game scheduled or if I could've found a way out of it, I certainly would've taken it.”

        Wouldn't his good friend let him out of it?

        “Uh, no,” Huggins said with a slight grin.

UC women in soccer Sweet 16 Huggins-Spoonhour friendship endures

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