West Virginia has taken action after the school’s basketball coach, Bob Huggins, used a slur during a radio interview. The university will downsize Huggins’ salary from $4.2 million to $3.2 million. Huggins will also participate in sensitivity training and serve a three-game suspension.
Huggins’ punishment stems from an interview he recently did with News Radio 700 WLW in Cincinnati. During the interview, the West Virginia basketball coach referenced a previous incident in which “rubber penises” were thrown on the floor of a game between Cincinnati and Xavier. As the conversation went along, he referenced Xavier fans as “Catholic f—s.”
“What it was, was all those f—s, those Catholic f—s, I think,” he said.
After a piece of the interview was picked up by Awful Announcing, Huggins issued an apology.
“I 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,” he stated.
Pete Thamel of ESPN also reports that Huggins met with university president Gordon Gee and expressed “contrition” for his comments.
