Bob Huggins Collapsed After His Defibrillator Went Off, He Kept Coaching

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins suffered a health scare during the Mountaineers’ lopsided victory over Texas on Monday night. Late in the first half, Huggins collapsed to the court during a timeout. After conferring with medical personnel, Huggins was seen rubbing his chest.

He told ESPN’s Holly Rowe that his defibrillator went off.

"“It comes out of nowhere,” Huggins said in a press conference after the game, via the AP. “Well, I guess I got a little lightheaded, which I do when I stand up too fast sometimes. A lot of that’s old age, and a lot of it is some of the medication I take. “Then, I mean honestly, the defibrillator went off,” Huggins added. “But, that’s second time it’s been going off. It goes off and what it is, it just shocks your heart back into rhythm.” "

Huggins suffered a heart attack at the Pittsburgh airport in 2002. He said this was the second time his device had gone off.

"“It goes off, and what it does is it shocks your heart back into rhythm,” said Huggins. “I’m like 99.9 percent of other guys my age in America — I got AFib [irregular heartbeat]. Jerry [West] has AFib for crying out loud; he does the commercial.” "

While Huggins’ math might be a little fuzzy, it’s great to see that his spirit was unaffected. To wit: he joked about being lucky to avoid a technical foul for delaying the game. Why let a minor thing like a defibrillator jolt get in the way of a good time?