Hall of fame coach Bob Huggins resigns in wake of DUI charge and anti-gay slur
West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins has resigned after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. His decision to step down came a month after the university suspended him for three games for using an antigay slur while also denigrating Catholics during a radio interview.
“My recent actions do not represent the values of the University or the leadership expected in this role ... I have let all of you – and myself – down,” he said in a statement on Saturday night.
He added that he would spend time focusing on his health and family.
“I am solely responsible for my conduct and sincerely apologize to the University community – particularly to the student-athletes, coaches and staff in our program,” Huggins said.
Huggins, 69, was pulled over by police in Pittsburgh on Friday night. He was charged with driving under the influence, was released from custody and will appear at a later date for a preliminary hearing, according to a police report.
An officer observed garbage bags with empty beer containers both inside the vehicle and in the trunk, according to a criminal complaint. Huggins said he had been to a basketball camp with his brother in Sherrodsville, Ohio. An officer said Huggins was asked multiple times what city he was in but never got a response. A breath test determined Huggins’ blood alcohol content was 0.21%, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08% in Pennsylvania. A blood sample also was taken from Huggins at a hospital before his release.
In June 2004, Huggins pleaded no contest to driving under the influence in a suburb of Cincinnati and was ordered to attend a three-day intervention program. The University of Cincinnati suspended him indefinitely with pay and told Huggins to rehabilitate himself.
Huggins was allowed to return to work two months later, saying that: “I made a terrible mistake, and what bothers me most is I hurt other people. All I can do is work like crazy to be a better person, a better coach, be better at everything I do and make those people proud of me.”
By 2005, Huggins’ 16-year career at Cincinnati was over; he was fired amid a power struggle with the school’s president as well as the aftermath of the 2004 arrest.
After spending one season at Kansas State, Huggins took his dream job at West Virginia, his alma mater, in 2007.
Last month Huggins agreed to a three-game suspension, a $1m salary reduction and sensitivity training for using the slur during an interview with Cincinnati radio station WLW. Huggins was asked in the interview about the transfer portal and whether he had a chance of landing a player at West Virginia from Xavier, a Jesuit school.
“Catholics don’t do that,” Huggins said. “I tell you what, any school that can throw rubber penises on the floor and then say they didn’t do it, by God they can get away with anything.
“It was the Crosstown Shootout. What it was, was all those fags, those Catholic fags, I think.”
In a joint statement later that week, West Virginia University President Gordon Gee and athletic director Wren Baker said the university “made it explicitly clear to Coach Huggins that any incidents of similar derogatory and offensive language will result in immediate termination.”
Huggins entered the Basketball Hall of Fame last September. In 41 seasons, his teams have gone to 25 NCAA tournaments, finished ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll seven times and finished under .500 five times. The Mountaineers have 11 NCAA tournament appearances under Huggins.