DerMarr Johnson Shares Classic Huggins Story

WVU assistant coach DerMarr Johnson tells a fantastic story about Huggins during his Cincinnati days

There is always intrigue when former players regale us with stories of their playing days, especially when it comes to their former head coach.

DerMarr Johnson spent one season under West Virginia University head coach Bob Huggins during his time at the University of Cincinnati, and it was the best team Huggins ever assembled. The 1999-2000 Bearcats were primed for a National Championship before the nation’s top player, Kenyon Martin, went down with a season-ending injury and the team fell short of their goal. 

Jan 31, 2004; Cincinnati, OH, USA; FILE PHOTO; Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Bob Huggins during the 2003-04 season / Brett Hansbauer-USA TODAY Sports

Johnson opted for the NBA draft following his senior season but, like many of Huggins’ former players, stayed close with Huggins, and was recently hired as the new assistant head coach at WVU.

Johnson had his first interaction with the media on Friday, ahead of the Mountaineers’ matchup versus No. 7 Texas on Saturday and shared one of his favorite Huggins’ moments.

“My freshman year there, we had a guy named BJ Grove who was a freshman with us and he’s like 6’11 280 - he was really good in high school, but coach was on him every day. Every day he wanted BJ Grove to be 255. BJ would go home for a weekend and comeback like 275 and coach like, ‘you gained 20-pounds in a weekend, that’s really hard.’

“So, one day, we got a charge drill and coach thinks guys aren’t taking charges the right way,” continued Johnson, “So, he said, ‘I’ll show you M-F’ers how to do this,’ and he got out there and he picked BJ, the guy he makes run every practice. BJ didn’t even practice, he just runs up and down the arena, and he said, ‘run from half court and I’m going to take this charge,’ and BJ is like 280. He runs full speed and Huggs stands there and takes the charge and BJ knocks Huggs under the basket – he hits him hard. But Huggs stood in there and took it and got up and his face is red.”

“I got up and made BJ’s life miserable for about the next month,” added Huggins. Although as Huggins tells it, “BJ was over 300-pounds, by the way. He ate hot dogs like M&M’s.”

Johnson could not help but smile while telling the story and gave a little laugh when he said, “I know BJ was looking forward to that day.” However, the message Huggins was sending got through.

“If our coach can stand there and take a charge from the biggest dude on the team then we have no excuse to not stand there and take it that charge,” said Johnson. He could've picked me, I'm 195. He picked the big guy - that's tough."

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