by John Mulvaney, WSAZ Sports

john.mulvaney@wsaz.com

The emotional stability of a sports fan is like a pendulum. One that swings back and forth between the feeling of choking on the sickening stomach churning bile of losing and the blissful adrenaline rush of winning.

Attachment to a favorite school or team can send you flying from one extreme to another. It reminds me of a dysfunctional high school sweetheart relationship that constantly teeters between love and hate. The loyalty is there, the attraction is there, but factors outside of your control can create a cloud of frustration that hangs over your head, ready to drown out every positive experience.

It all sounds a little dramatic, I know. But this is the emotional crucible that every West Virginia fan probably experienced within the last twelve months. From the John Beilein press conference last April, where he announced he was leaving for Michigan, to the overtime three by Xavier's B.J. Raymond that knocked the Mountaineers out of the Sweet 16.

It is a cruel obsession, that requires so much emotional investment in a coach, a team and a school only to have your heart ripped out.

However, this roller coaster of loyalty and loss can blind fans. This is most evident by browsing West Virginia message boards.

Let's get one thing straight: Bob Huggins did a good job at West Virginia this year, no question. However, to read the message boards and listen to the water cooler analysts, you would think he elevated the Mountaineers from the cellar of college basketball to the penthouse. I know losing a coach can hurt (I can still remember Rick Pitino's Celtics press conference). But before WVU fans erect a statue of Huggins outside of the Coliseum next to Jerry West, lets take pause and remember that you've been to the Sweet Sixteen before. John Beilein took you there.

Beilein betrayed you, he left for an "inferior" program in an "inferior" conference. I've heard all the arguments, and quite frankly they sound more like justifications for hating an ex-girlfriend. In five seasons Beilein went 104-51 at the Mountaineer's helm. He took over a program that went 8-20 the previous season. Beilein didn't just win, he guided the program through a transition period, which saw the Big East grow larger and more difficult to navigate.

He led Mountaineer fans to some of their greatest emotional highs. An NIT appearance in 2003-04 helped the Mountaineers turn the corner toward prominence. A storybook trip to the Elite Eight in 2004-05 put the tournament spotlight on West Virginia. Then he followed that with another trip to the Sweet Sixteen. Last season the Mountaineers just missed the tournament, even though they had a better overall record than the Elite Eight team. But they didn't go home, they won the NIT championship.

Bob Huggins is a good coach and did a good job of blending his hard-nosed style with Beilein's finesse roster, but he did not "transform" a no talent Mountaineer team into a scrappy group of winners. That perception couldn't be further from the truth. Beilein's style was doing just fine. Huggins sat out the 2005-06 season before landing at Kansas State for a year (where he broke more hearts than Beilein did in Morgantown).

But this was Huggins' first Sweet Sixteen trip since 2000-01 at Cincinnati. And while Beilein was in the round of eight in 2004-05, Bob Huggins hasn't been there since the 1995-96 season! That is a 12-season and counting streak of missing the Elite Eight.

So, I know WVU fans are excited about having Huggins back home. It was a great year to watch West Virginia Basketball, but please don't let your "Huggy-Love" erase what Beilein did over the last five years.

You should be happy West Virginia Fans. Your pendulum is swinging, but don't let it blind you.