In the course of the last few weeks, I’ve wondered if there has been an uglier split than the one we’ve witnessed between WVU and Rich Rodriguez. There is no precedent, but not long ago, there was at least a similar situation when Bob Huggins clashed with University of Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher and forced into resigning.

No need to rehash it all because the past is the past and tonight’s game between Huggins WVU and Cincinnati serves as the first step toward closure. Next year’s game in Cincinnati will be the big one, obviously, and we’ll go over all the sentiment one more last time.

Make no mistake, though. Huggins is a controversial, though admired and missed personality in Cincinnati and many there think he did not get all he deserved when he accepted a buyout and stepped aside three years ago.

The debate and the bitterness have lasted so long, the principles have become caricatures, the positions hardened to stone. Good or evil, devil or angel. The lingering bad feelings are corrosive and counterproductive.

Give the man his due and be done with it.

“There ought to be an outreach,” Goin said by phone from Florida, where he has retired. “Some way that history can show his passion, his role at that university. You can argue however you want. But you can’t argue with the success, the national recognition, the TV exposure, the laying of the foundation so other things could happen.”