Bob Huggins can't continue coaching. He can't continue leading young individuals when he has no problem using homophobic slurs on a radio show and then laughing about it.
The 69-year-old West Virginia men's basketball head coach — who was just inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last year and is one of eight coaches to ever win more than 930 games at the NCAA Division I level — can apologize all he wants. But it's clear what West Virginia University has to do: fire him or force him to resign.
Huggins' tenure in Morgantown should be over quicker than the Mountaineers' 2023 NCAA Tournament run, which ended in the first round. What Huggins said is enough to fire anyone in any public-facing role.
What Did Bob Huggins Say?
Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images
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Huggins was speaking with 700 WLW's Bill Cunningham during a radio interview Monday. The two were talking about the Crosstown Shootout rivalry game between the University of Cincinnati, where Huggins holds the all-time wins mark, and Xavier University.
Huggins was asked whether he had poached any Xavier players to come to West Virginia, to which he replied that "Catholics don't do that."
Then, well, listen for yourself:
?? 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
Huggins: "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."
Cunningham: "I think it was transgender night, wasn't it?"
Huggins: "It was a Crosstown Shootout, yeah, no, what it was, was all those f***, those Catholic f***, I think."
Cunningham: "All right."
Huggins: "They were envious they didn't have one."
Huggins is saying these things while laughing, mind you. The cherry on top is the radio hosts saying, "Isn't he the best?" after he just used about the worst slur you can use regarding the LGBTQ+ community. OutSports even called these the worst homophobic comments in sports since former NBA player Tim Hardaway said, "I hate gay people" in 2007.
The WVU head coach then released an apology on Twitter, but it never mentions the LGBTQ+ community by name. He instead apologizes to "the individuals" he offended.
Bob Huggins has released a statement. pic.twitter.com/9ZwHoww8JA
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 8, 2023
What West Virginia Should Do With Huggins
Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images
WVU said it was "investigating" the situation, which is odd considering there's audio of Huggins saying the slur — twice. He also admitted it in his statement. That the school hadn't fired him the same day is surprising.
It's clear here that Huggins must either resign or be fired. There's no other way around it. If any other employee for a public university such as West Virginia said this, they would be fired instantly. There's just no room for this type of hate in college athletics — or anywhere, for that matter.
#WVU statement on head basketball coach Bob Huggins and his remarks pic.twitter.com/U0ogdrjJta
— Keenan Cummings (@rivalskeenan) May 8, 2023
Huggins has 935 career wins across his career with Akron, Cincinnati, Kansas State and West Virginia. That is the most among all active NCAA coaches. He's been to the NCAA Tournament 26 times, where he's made two Final Fours but won zero championships.
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