College Basketball

West Virginia's Bob Huggins agrees to pay cut, suspension for homophobic slur

Published May. 10, 2023 3:50 p.m. ET

Bob Huggins will remain basketball coach at West Virginia after agreeing to a suspension and pay cut for using a homophobic slur during a radio show.

Huggins will be suspended for the first three games of the 2023-24 regular season and his salary will be slashed by $1 million, the school announced Wednesday. Huggins' multi-year contract will also be shrunk to a one-year deal, and he'll be on a zero-tolerance policy if he has "any incidents of similar derogatory and offensive language." Huggins will also be required to meet and undergo training with the school's LGBTQ+ Center and Carruth Center with the $1 million of his removed salary going to those institutions.

In a blunder that will leave a lasting mark on his Hall of Fame career, Huggins used the slur to refer to Xavier fans on Monday while also denigrating Catholics during an appearance on Cincinnati radio station WLW. He later apologized in a statement. The West Virginia athletic department called the comments "offensive" and said it was reviewing the matter.

During the radio show, Huggins was asked 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 (expletive), those Catholic (expletive), I think."

In a speech on Wednesday, Xavier President Colleen Hanycz called Huggins’ comments "repulsive and offensive."

"The deplorable mischaracterizations and homophobic slurs directed towards our LGBTQ+ and our Catholic communities were repulsive and offensive," Hanycz said before a press event detailing plans for a new medical school. "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," Hanycz said. "Your presence makes us better."

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 had finished under .500 five times. The Mountaineers have 11 NCAA Tournament appearances under Huggins.

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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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