Huggins Explains Why He's So 'Excited' About the Addition of DerMarr Johnson
Mountaineer Nation was stunned by the news of West Virginia parting ways with longtime Bob Huggins assistant Larry Harrison.
The two spent a total of 24 years together, including 16 years in Morgantown, and had virtually been through it all together. From the Final Four run to the transition to the Big 12 to Press Virginia to dealing with the pandemic, the start of the portal/NIL era, and so on.
Huggins threw out on his radio show that he wasn't as involved in the decision as he had been portrayed to be and then the next day, he read off a scripted statement regarding the matter to the media ending it by saying he wouldn't be taking any questions.
It was a weird 48 hours, to say the least, but Huggins had to no choice but to move on and find a replacement for Harrison. On Monday, WVU announced the hiring of DerMarr Johnson.
Johnson played one year for Huggins at the University of Cincinnati before taking his talents to the next level, where he was the sixth overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft taken by the Atlanta Hawks.
"He's already helped us," said Huggins following the win over No. 14 TCU. "Our guys are over stretching and he's just kind of fooling around and he walks out to the WV out in the middle of the floor and drains about six straight that didn't even hit the rim. And they're going like, 'wow'. And they know he was the fifth pick in the draft. They know he was the National High School Player of the Year. They know he had an NBA career in spite of the fact that he had a car wreck that he was lucky to be able to do what he's doing now. They understand that. They know that. And he's a great person. He's got experience to be where a lot of those guys would like to be."
Speaking of experience, this is a new role for Johnson. He's never been a coach before but considering the guy was a National High School Player of the Year, Conference USA Freshman of the Year, and played 16 years professionally, there's a wealth of knowledge that he brings to the table.
Prior to joining the WVU staff earlier this week, Johnson served as director of player development for the men’s basketball program at Cincinnati since May 2021. In that role, he oversaw individual development plans for the Bearcats and coordinated details related to connecting with former players.
Aside from what he'll do in the gym and the film room with the current guys, he will be a big asset for the Mountaineers on the recruiting trail. Huggins made sure to point that out Wednesday night.
"I'm excited about this. I'm excited about the fact that he can go into D.C. and everyone knows him. I'm not embarrassed to say we have not done a very good job in D.C. I think Gale [Catlett] did a much better job in D.C. than we did. We didn't do a good job of that at all. And you think about the players that have come through here from D.C...we need to get in there and do a better job. He's as good a guy that can go in there and help us do that."
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