Bob Huggins and West Virginia have reached an agreement for the 69-year-old to remain as the school’s men’s basketball coach next season on a reduced salary after he uttered an anti-gay slur on a radio show this week.
Huggins was to sign a reworked contract on Wednesday that would slash the Hall of Famer’s salary from $4.2 million to $3.2 million and he will be suspended for the first three games of the season.
The school also announced that “any incidents of similar derogatory and offensive language will result in immediate termination,” and Huggins’ contract is now a year-to-year agreement.
The restructured deal comes two days after he referred to Xavier fans as “Catholic f–s” during an interview with Bill Cunningham on WLW in Cincinnati.
The longtime coach, who has been at West Virginia since 2007, met with school president E. Gordon Gee on Tuesday, and the university’s board of trustees were involved in the decision to retain Huggins on a restructured deal, per ESPN.
Bob Huggins is set to remain the West Virginia men’s basketball coach on a reduced salary after uttering an anti-gay slur during a radio interview. APDuring the interview, Huggins referenced “rubber penises” that were thrown on the court during a game between Xavier and crosstown rival Cincinnati, where Huggins coached from 1989-2005.
“No, what it was was all those f–s, those Catholic f–s,” Huggins said. “They were envious they didn’t have one.”
Huggins issued a statement through West Virginia on Monday after audio of his interview, captured by Awful Announcing, began spreading, and put out another statement on Wednesday.
Warning: graphic language
Bob Huggins (r.) coaching West Virginia during its first-round March Madness game against Maryland on March 16, 2023. Getty Images“I deeply regret my actions, the hurt they unfairly caused others and the negative attention my words have brought to West Virginia University,” Huggins said. “I also regret the embarrassment and disappointment it has caused our athletics family, members of our campus community and the state of West Virginia.”
Huggins has a 345-203 record in 16 seasons at West Virginia.




