West Virginia men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins was set to enter his 17th season in Morgantown. But his job status is understandably in doubt after Monday’s radio appearance with WLW in Cincinnati.
In a phone call on Bill Cunningham’s show, Huggins repeatedly said a homophobic slur while referring to Xavier fans throwing a sex toy onto the court during his time as the head coach at Cincinnati.
After a host made a transphobic joke, Huggins said in response, “Yeah, it was a cross-town shootout. No, what it was was all those (expletive). Those Catholic (expletive).” The clip of the call can be heard here.
A few hours after the show, the school’s Twitter account posted an apology attributed to Huggins.
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) May 8, 2023
Update: The school also issued a statement.
Statement by WVU Athletics. pic.twitter.com/BGGAErDU22
— WVU Sports (@WVUSports) May 8, 2023
But college basketball fans were ready to see the school move on after those bigoted remarks.
This was how Twitter reacted
Let it be known that @700wlw, @Willie700WLW and Bob Huggins had 3 hours to issue any form of apology and decided not to. The audio is out and the company decided to hope no one noticed
— Coop Ledford (@CoopLed) May 8, 2023
If this is the end for Bob Huggins, it’s such a Cincinnati sports story.
* Bill Cunningham has been on the radio there since I was a kid, and I’m 47.
* A Crosstown Shootout grudge from 30 years ago.
* Huggins using the *same exact awful slur* that got Thom Brennamen fired.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) May 8, 2023
— No Context College Basketball (@ContextFreeCBB) May 8, 2023
Bob Huggins hasn’t coached at Cincinnati in 18 years and potentially just ended his career because Xavier still lives in his head rent free. What a sad sorry man
— Noah Casper (@NoahCasper1) May 8, 2023
Help me understand, because I’m truly mystified, how Bob Huggins thinks he can use that word on a radio show. Does he think no one is listening? Does he not understand it’s a slur because it was commonly used in the ‘60s when he was a teenager? Does he simply feel infallible?
— Paola Boivin (@PaolaBoivin) May 8, 2023
Every minute Bob Huggins remains employed by U of WV the worse the school looks.
— Jim Benemann (@jim_benemann) May 8, 2023
After listening to the Bob Huggins’ clip, I’m not sure how he gets out of this without facing major consequences. #WVU
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) May 8, 2023
All that Bob Huggins interview was missing was a Nick Castellanos home run.
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) May 8, 2023
if west virginia university still hasn’t fired bob huggins by 6pm tonight they just might not at all
— mike taddow 🆓 (@MikeTaddow) May 8, 2023
