West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins will return to the sideline next season after using an anti-gay slur in a radio interview this week but will take a pay cut and serve a three-game suspension.
The university announced on Wednesday that Huggins will sign an agreement that includes a $1m salary reduction (from $4.2m to $3.2m), the three-game suspension and sensitivity training. In addition, his contract will be amended from a multi-year agreement to a year-by-year deal.
Under the agreement, Huggins and all current and future athletics coaching staff will be required to undergo training that will be developed by the university’s LGBTQ+ Center to address all aspects of inequality, including homophobia, transphobia and sexism. Huggins also will be required to meet with LGBTQ+ leaders from across the state.
“We will never truly know the damage that has been done by the words said in those 90 seconds,” West Virginia University president Gordon Gee and athletic director Wren Baker said in a joint statement. “Words matter and they can leave scars that can never be seen. But words can also heal. And by taking this moment to learn more about another’s perspective, speak respectfully and lead with understanding, perhaps the words ‘do better’ will lead to meaningful change for all.”
Huggins, 69, used a homophobic slur to refer to fans of Xavier University during a radio interview. During a call to Cincinnati radio station WLW, Huggins, a former longtime coach at Cincinnati, was asked about the transfer portal and whether he had a chance of landing a player from Xavier, a Jesuit school and the Bearcats’ crosstown rival.
“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.”
⚠️ Here’s the audio of Bob Huggins calling Xavier fans “Catholic f--s” during an appearance on Bill Cunningham’s WLW radio show in Cincinnati pic.twitter.com/JTftGx9rQE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 8, 2023
The show’s host then said: “I think it was transgender night”. Huggins replied: “It was the Crosstown Shootout. What it was, was all those fags, those Catholic fags, I think.”
Huggins issued an apology on Monday, and followed it up with a new statement on Wednesday. “Over the past 48 hours, I have reflected on the awful words that I shared on a radio program earlier this week,” Huggins said. “I deeply regret my actions, the hurt they unfairly caused others and the negative attention my words have brought to West Virginia University.
“West Virginia and West Virginia University are my home. I love this university and know first-hand that the education and experiences students receive here make a difference. I am truly sorry for the damage I have done. And I am grateful for the chance to move forward in a way that positively represents this university and our state.”
In a speech on Wednesday, Xavier president Colleen Hanycz called Huggins’s comments “repulsive and offensive.”
“The deplorable mischaracterizations and homophobic slurs directed towards our LGBTQ+ and our Catholic communities were repulsive and offensive,” Hanycz said. “To those in our Xavier family who were directly targeted and harmed by these hateful words, be assured that you are invaluable members of our Xavier family and you belong here. Your presence makes us better.”
Huggins spent 16 seasons at Cincinnati before being fired in 2005 in a power struggle with the school’s president as well as the aftermath of a 2004 drunken driving arrest. After spending one season at Kansas State, Huggins took his dream job at West Virginia, his alma mater, in 2007.
He completed the 2022-23 season with a 934-415 career record. With his 921st win, Huggins passed Jim Calhoun for third place all-time among Division I coaches, behind only recently retired Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke.
