Rick Huckabay

A Success Right Off the Bat

For a fellow who never played the game of basketball in high school or college, Rick Huckabay did pretty well coaching the sport.

Huckabay, an outstanding catcher for the Bossier High baseball team in 1962 and later at Louisiana Tech, entered the Louisiana High School Athletic Association/Louisiana Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2005. He had a stellar high school coaching record of 322-80 when he was honored. He also achieved success at the college level, first as an assistant coach under Dale Brown at LSU and later as the head coach of the Marshall University Thundering Herd in Huntington, West Virginia, where his teams won 129 games in a six-season span. His tenure included two NCAA Playoff appearances and a trip to the National Invitation Tournament.

Huckabay was an immediate success at Marshall, winning 25 games in his first season as coach. That ranked him as one of the most successful first-year coaches ever, according to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). His .686 win percentage with the Thundering Herd is bettered by only one coach in the school's basketball history, among coaches who led the Thundering Herd for more than one season.

Huckabay mixed innovation and flair with his coaching. He and his whole staff of coaches dressed in tuxedoes for their first game at Marshall, a 78-67 win over arch foe West Virginia University. Huckabay also opened a self-improvement program for his players, teaching them life skills they could use away from the athletic field. Huckabay that explained many of his players came from backgrounds where there was little or no influence in areas others take for granted. The program received national attention.

His teams won back-to-back Southern Conference championships in his first two seasons, earning NCAA tournament appearances after each. In his fourth year, the Herd won 25 games again and the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament crowns. In 1987-88, Huckabay's team won the regular season Southern Conference title and appeared in the NIT. Marshall inducted him into its athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.

Huckabay started his coaching career at Haughton High School and coached at Rapides High School, Menard of Alexandria and Baton Rouge Redemptorist before joining the LSU staff. He guided high school state championship teams at Rapides (1973) and at Redemptorist (1977 and 1978). Huckabay's Redemptorist teams fashioned a 70-game win streak. His 1979 team (44-1) missed a perfect season because of a two-point loss in the state championship game. He was voted Class AAA Coach of the Year from 1977 through 1979.

At the time of his death in March 2006, Huckabay was assistant principal and basketball coach at Simsboro High School.

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