Bob Huggins issues a public apology for using a homophobic slur on air
Huggins’ remarks were deemed “offensive” by West Virginia’s sports administration, which promised to investigate the matter.
Huggins, a previous lengthy coach at Cincinnati, was recently interviewed by local radio station WLW and questioned about the transfer portal and whether or not he had a chance of recruiting a player from Xavier, the Bearcats’ Jesuit rival.
“Catholics don’t do that,” Huggins remarked. “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.”
Huggins issued a statement later on Monday, stating, “used a completely insensitive and abhorrent phrase that there is simply no excuse for — and I won’t try to make one here. 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.
“As I have shared with my players over my 40 years of coaching, 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. I must do better, and I will.”
Huggins was sacked from Cincinnati in 2005 after 16 seasons there due to a power conflict with the school president and the fallout from a 2004 drunk driving incident. Huggins spent only one year at Kansas State before accepting his dream position at his beloved mater, West Virginia.