West Virginia and men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins are finalizing details for him to return as the school’s coach following his use of an anti-LGBTQ slur in a radio interview earlier this week, according to a report by Mike Casazza of 247Sports.
As part of the agreement to return, Huggins is expected to receive a three-game suspension, a $1 million salary reduction, and he will be required to attend sensitivity training, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports.
On Monday, Huggins referred to Xavier fans as “Catholic f--s” on the Bill Cunningham Show on WLW-AM. The former Cincinnati coach was reminiscing about the Bearcats’ rivalry with the Musketeers, named the Crosstown Shootout, and his use of the slur drew laughter from the show’s hosts.
Huggins’s use of the slur prompted swift and widespread condemnation. The Hall of Fame coach apologized in a statement, writing, “I used a completely insensitive and abhorrent phrase that there is simply no excuse for. … I am ashamed and embarrassed and heartbroken for those I have hurt. I must do better, and I will.”
The Mountaineers later released their own statement, writing, “The situation is under review and will be addressed by the university and its athletics department.”
Huggins, 69, has coached Akron, Cincinnati, Kansas State and West Virginia over the course of his 39-year career. He led the Bearcats and Mountaineers to the Final Four in 1992 and 2010, respectively, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in ’22.
He has won 863 games in his coaching career, with 345 of them coming in Morgantown.
This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.
