West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins Apologizes for Using Homophobic Slur Twice on Radio Show: 'I Am Ashamed'
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The school said the coach's remarks on a local radio show Monday "were insensitive, offensive and do not represent" the school's values.
The longtime coach of the West Virginia men's basketball team has apologized after he repeated a homophobic slur twice during a radio interview on Monday.
The school's athletic department released a statement Monday saying coach Bob Huggins' remarks "were insensitive, offensive and do not represent" the school's values.
Huggins, 69, has been the coach of the Mountaineers since 2007 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last year. Throughout his career, Huggins has also been the head coach of Cincinnati, Akron, Walsh University and Kansas State.
During a call-in interview on a local WLW radio show in Cincinnati, the coach was asked about the NCAA's current transfers and whether he thinks a player from Xavier University — a rival of his former Cincinnati Bearcats team — would ever consider switching schools to play for him.
"Catholics don't do that," Huggins responded, referring to fans of Xavier, a private Jesuit school in Ohio. "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."
The host of the show, Bill Cunningham, then responded saying, "I think it was 'transgender night,' wasn't it?"
Huggins then said: "It was the Crosstown Shootout. What it was, was all those f--s, those Catholic f--s, I think."
The coach issued an apology later that day, while some fans called for the school to fire or suspend him.
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"During the conversation, I used a completely insensitive and abhorrent phrase that there is simply no excuse for — and I won't try to make one here," he wrote in a statement shared online. "I deeply apologize to the individuals I have offended, as well as to the Xavier University community, the University of Cincinnati and West Virginia University."
Huggins said "there are consequences for our words and actions, and I will fully accept any coming my way."
"I am ashamed and embarrassed and heartbroken for those I have hurt," he continued. "I must do better, and I will."
West Virginia's athletic department said it was reviewing the incident and said it "will be addressed" by the university.
"West Virginia University does not condone the use of such language and takes such actions very seriously," the school's statement said.
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