Global Courant
Bob Huggins says he never resigned as West Virginia basketball coach after a drunk driving arrest and wants his job back, according to a letter from his lawyer to the university.
Cleveland-based Huggins attorney David A. Campbell wrote to the university on Friday that Huggins “never signed a letter of resignation and never communicated a resignation to anyone at WVU,” according to the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday. . .
The letter threatens a lawsuit if Huggins is not reinstated. Huggins’ demands were first reported by the West Virginia network MetroNews.
Huggins was charged with drunk driving on June 16 in Pittsburgh. A breath test found that Huggins’ blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit. His resignation was announced by the university the following evening. A week later, assistant coach Josh Eilert was promoted to interim head coach for the 2023–24 season.
Campbell’s letter stated that the university announced Huggins’ firing “based on a text from Coach Huggins’ wife” to West Virginia deputy athletic director Steve Uryasz.
The university responded to Campbell on Saturday in a letter that read in part: “Frankly, we are confused by the allegations in the letter.”
WVU said that on June 17, Huggins met with its players and members of the basketball staff “to announce that he would no longer coach the team.” It said that Huggins had “clearly” communicated his resignation and retirement in writing and that “both parties have since reasonably relied on that resignation and retirement in a number of ways”.
The university provided the AP with a copy of a message from Huggins’ wife, June, that same day. It read, “Please accept this correspondence as my formal notice of resignation as WVU Head Basketball Coach and as notice of my retirement from West Virginia University, effective immediately.”
The message was sent from an email address associated with June Huggins, with a signature indicating that it was sent from iPhone. It was sent to Uryasz’s email address and did not appear to be a text message, as Campbell claimed.
West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker responded an hour later by writing, “We accept your resignation and wish you well in retirement. We appreciate your years of dedication to WVU.”
Less than an hour later, the university released two statements. One announced Huggins’ resignation.
The other was titled “A Message from Bob Huggins to the WVU Community” and began: “Today I have submitted a letter to President Gordon Gee and Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker informing them of my resignation and intent to to retire as head men’s basketball coach at West Virginia University effective immediately.”
The firing was announced a month after the university handed Huggins a three-game suspension for using an anti-gay slur and belittling Catholics during a radio interview.
Several Huggins players have already entered the transfer portal and some have found new teams.
Campbell said Huggins’ contract required the coach to send written notice by certified or certified mail to the athletic director and the university’s general counsel.
Despite the threat of a lawsuit, Campbell’s letter said Huggins “does not want a lawsuit. Rather, he seeks the correction of a clear violation of his employment contract with WVU.”
The 69-year-old Huggins was the third-winning coach of all time in Division I with 935 wins, behind only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (1,202) and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim (1,015), both of whom are retired.
Unlike the others, Huggins did not win a national title. He took Cincinnati to the Final Four in 1992 and West Virginia in 2010. Huggins entered the Basketball Hall of Fame last September. In 41 seasons, his teams went to 25 NCAA Tournaments and finished in the AP top 10 seven times. The Mountaineers made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances under Huggins.
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