West Virginia men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins has been suspended three games and fined $1 million after referring to Xavier fans as “Catholic f*ags” during a recent radio interview.
Huggins will also have to undergo sensitivity training.
In addition to the missed games and financial penalties, Huggins’ current multi-year contract structure will be amended to make it a year-by-year deal in which the school can reevaluate his status annually.
Huggins will see his $4.2 million salary sliced to $3.2 million and will serve the three-game suspension in the first three games of West Virginia’s regular season schedule. WVU President Gordon Gee and Athletic Director Wren Baker made it clear in a statement that “any incidents of similar derogatory and offensive language will result in immediate termination.”
As Breitbart’s Paul Bois reported on Monday, “Huggins issued the slur while speaking on the air with 700 WLW as he discussed an incident during one of the Crosstown Shootouts that Huggins had coached in. According to Huggins, he said Xavier players wouldn’t transfer to West Virginia, where he now coaches, because “Catholics don’t do that” and called them “f*gs.”
“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, Huggins said.
“I think it was transgender night wasn’t it?” responded Cunningham.
“It was a Crosstown Shootout, yea, no, what it was, was all those f*gs, those Catholic f*gs, I think,” said Huggins.
“They were envious they didn’t have one,” Huggins added.
⚠️ Here’s the audio of Bob Huggins calling Xavier fans “Catholic f–s” during an appearance on Bill Cunningham’s WLW radio show in Cincinnati pic.twitter.com/JTftGx9rQE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 8, 2023
Huggins did issue an apology for the remark, but it clearly did not prevent punishment.
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) May 8, 2023
According to WVU, Huggins will also have to meet with faculty members “to better understand the mental health crisis facing our college students, particularly those in marginalized communities. It is expected he will work with the Center and the University to raise awareness on how we can best support our students’ health and well-being.”
Huggins will also make “a substantial donation” to Xavier’s Center for Faith and Justice and Center for Diversity and Inclusion to atone for “the disparaging way in which the Catholic faith was characterized in the comments.”
Huggins is a WVU grad and Hall of Fame member.
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