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Pete Thamel, ESPN
West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins will be back on the sidelines next season after using anti-gay profanity in a radio interview earlier this week.
Huggins agreed to a multi-million dollar pay cut, a three-match suspension and sensibility training.
Huggins’s suspension for the first three regular matches of the Climbers and his contract will be revised from a multi-year agreement to an annual pact that will begin May 10, 2020. 2023 and ending April 30, 2024.
Huggins’ revised salary reduced his earnings from $4.2 million to $3.2 million. The multi-million dollar pay cut is believed to be one of the biggest pay cuts in college athletics.
University, in a statement from chairman Gordon Gee and athletic director Wren Baker, states that “any incident with similarly derogatory and offensive language will result in immediate termination of the contract.”
The school said it will partner with the university’s LGBTQ+ Center “to develop annual training sessions that address all aspects of inequality including homophobia, transgenderism, discrimination, and discrimination. This training and programming will be required of Coach Huggins and all current and future athletic coaching staff.”
According to the university, “according to the Williams Institute, West Virginia has the highest proportion of transgender youth in the nation. To address the concerns of our West Virginia youth, Coach Huggins will be required to be requested.” meet LGBTQ+ leaders from across West Virginia with guidance from the leadership of the WVU LGBTQ+ Center.”
The Williams Institute, based at UCLA, conducts independent research into the laws and policies of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Huggins, 69, will also be asked to meet with leadership from the university’s Carruth Center “to better understand the mental health crisis facing our college students, particularly It is expected that he will work with the Center and the University to raise awareness of how we can best support the health and well-being of our students. “
$1 million from Huggins’ reduced wages will support the university’s LGBTQ+ Center, the Carruth Center, and “other national and state organizations that support marginalized communities.”
Huggins met with Gee on Tuesday and expressed remorse over the remarks, sources told ESPN. Decisions are made from the top of the school, which includes Gee and the university board, the school’s board of trustees and the athletic department.
The decision came after nearly two days of deliberation, after Huggins appeared on Cincinnati area radio on Monday. The university immediately condemned his words and announced that they were looking into the incident.
In a radio interview on News Radio 700 WLW in Cincinnati, where Huggins worked as a coach (at University of Cincinnati), he discussed an incident with the presenter in which Huggins recalled a “rubber penis” being thrown to the floor during a Crosstown Shootout game between Cincinnati and Xavier.
Huggins then said“What do I think it is, all those f-gs, those Catholic f-gs.”
According to the university, Huggins agreed to make a “significant contribution” to Xavier in support of the Center for Faith and Justice and the school’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion because of “the disparaging manner of the Catholic faith described in comments.”
The audio clip appeared on the media industry website Terrible Announcement and quickly went viral. The comment sparked a backlash, and Huggins issued an apology.
In a statement Wednesday, Huggins said he regrets “the confusion and disappointment it has caused our Athletics family, members of our school community, and the state of West Virginia. I apologize for the pain and suffering I have caused to our students and students-athletes I do not only represent the University and our basketball program, and I am so It hurts to know that I’ve let so many people down.”
He added: “West Virginia and West Virginia University are my home. I love this university and know that the education and experience students get here makes all the difference. I’m truly sorry. And I’m grateful for the opportunity to move forward in a way that positively represents this University and our state.”
Huggins, a West Virginia graduate, is a Hall of Fame coach who has scored 863-389 at four Division I schools since taking a job at Akron in 1984. Other Division I coaching jobs of Huggins is in the State of Kansas. Along the way, he emerged as one of the most successful and divisive coaches of the previous generation. He has been at West Virginia since 2007 and led the school to a record 345-203, 11 NCAA tournaments and the 2010 Quarterfinals.
