Report: Bob Huggins plans to resign from West Virginia job

After a tumultuous offseason filled with scandal, Bob Huggins will not coach at West Virginia this season. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the long-time headman plans to resign following his latest incident.

Jeff Goodman also reported a meeting between Huggins, his staff and the players on campus informing them that he would not be the head coach moving forward.

The start of Huggins’ downfall began after he made viral headlines during a Cincinnati radio appearance in early May. Huggins appeared to use a homophobic slur when discussing Xavier via Bill Cunningham’s WLW radio show. The hosts asked Huggins if he had recruited anybody from the Musketeers before rekindling an old memory of a Crosstown Shootout matchup with Cincinnati.

That’s when the apparent use of the slur occurred, with Huggins calling Xavier fans “Catholic f***” after describing them throwing things onto the court.

Afterward, Huggins was suspended and his contract was amended, but anyone who called for his head was forced to wait. Then, the now-former West Virginia leader was back in the news again on Saturday, as he was arrested for a DUI in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“According to information from Pittsburgh police, Huggins was driving a black SUV at around 8:30 p.m. on Merchant Street off of Ridge Avenue when officers observed the vehicle in the middle of the road blocking traffic,” reported Jeff Jenkins of MetroNews. “Police said the driver’s side door was open and the vehicle had a flat and shredded tire.”

Per Jenkins, The police report stated: 

“Officers directed the male driver on how best to move off the road so they could help with the flat tire. When they observed him having difficulty maneuvering the SUV to allow vehicles to pass, they activated their lights to pull him over. Upon questioning, officers had strong suspicion to believe the male was intoxicated. They asked him to exit the vehicle to perform standard field sobriety tests, which he failed. The male was placed in custody without incident and transported for further testing.”

Alas, Bob Huggins was beloved at times in West Virginia, but it’s a somber end to his tenure, as it’ll now be marred in off-court controversy, which is a shame for the eccentric college basketball coach.

More on Bob Huggins, Coaching Career

Bob Huggins began his career as the head coach in Akron in 1984. He spent five seasons with the Zips before accepting the head coaching job at Cincinnati. There, Huggins made quite a name for himself, going 398-128 over a 16-season span. In that time, Huggins went to the NCAA Tournament 14 times, including a trip to the Final Four in 1992.

Despite his strong success at Cincinnati, Huggins’ tenure at the school came to an ugly end, which is all the more poignant at the moment, including a DUI arrest and the demand for the school to recruit players that stayed out of negative headlines more, per a 2005 article from ESPN.

After stepping down at Cincinnati, Huggins spent one season out of coaching before he was hired back into the profession by Kansas State in 2006. Huggins quickly turned the Wildcats around, going 23-12 in his first season at a program that had not won 20 games in seven straight seasons. Huggins also was set to bring in top recruits for the Wildcats, but the opening at his alma mater had him packing his bags after just one season.

During his 38 seasons as a college basketball coach, Huggins has compiled a record of 863-389. Huggins has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament 26 times, including two trips to the Final Four, once with Cincinnati in 1992 and once with West Virginia in 2010. Huggins has been the conference coach of the year in various conferences five times, was the C-USA Coach of the Decade in 2005 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022.

On3’s Riley Gates contributed to this report