Donnie Jones feels Bobby Huggins' gain.
He should.
After all, the Marshall coach also felt Huggins' pain at times this basketball season.
That's because Jones and West Virginia University's Huggins both spent their first seasons trying to hammer square-pegged players into round-holed schemes.
And both were successful. Especially Huggins. Although Jones coached Marshall to a 16-14 record -- the Herd's first winning season in seven years -- Huggins fared even better.
His Mountaineers (26-10) have stunned the entire country by advancing to an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 matchup against Xavier (29-6) at 7:10 p.m. today in the US Airways Center at Phoenix.
And nobody -- absolutely nobody -- appreciates the coaching job Huggins has done more than Jones.
"Most definitely," said Jones. "He's been able to take kids that have won in a different way and change it to the ability to defend and rebound, which gives you a chance to win every night. When you make shots along with those other two things, then you're really, really dangerous like they have been in the NCAA Tournament."
That's why I'm convinced this is the most remarkable performance of Huggins' coaching career. Just look at what he accomplished. Huggins actually took finesse players that had been brain-washed into believing that rebounding wasn't important and that zone defense could be manly -- snicker, snicker -- and transformed them into a ferocious horde of board-sweeping, in-your-face defending scavengers.
"What he has done is a great story," said Jones. "He has taken a group of kids who were high basketball IQ kids and he has made them tougher and taught them how to defend. That's what has been particularly impressive.
"Your upperclassmen are the ones that have to buy in to what you're doing. Then, your others will follow. The thing that Bobby has been able to do is get Joe Alexander and (Alex) Ruoff and those guys to buy in, which has made those other guys go to a different level.
"I think that's a credit to him."
Of course, Huggins did have a marked advantage over Jones. He inherited significantly more talent and also took over a WVU program that won the NIT championship last season and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight and Sweet 16 the previous two seasons. Unlike Marshall's players, the Mountaineers were accustomed to winning.
So, factor the degree of difficulty into the coaching equation and it's obvious that both first-year coaches turned in superlative performances despite working with mostly inherited players.
"It's always good to get kids to buy-in when you haven't recruited any of those kids," said Jones. "It's probably been a little tougher for Bobby because they have won. Our players, I was trying to get them to expect to win. His team expected to win, but I don't know if they were buying into how he was wanting to win.
"That's what has been impressive with him. He has been able to force his style of play on these kids and they've bought it. I'm sure it has taken time. He had some tough losses and some great wins.
"Now, it's all clicking for him."
First, there's pain and, then, there's gain.
Just ask Jones and Huggins.
Chuck Landon is a sports columnist for The Herald-Dispatch. Call him at 526-2827. E-mail him at clandon@herald-dispatch.com.
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