Former West Virginia head basketball coach Bob Huggins says he never resigned after DUI charges — as he threatens to sue
Bob Huggins says he never resigned as West Virginia basketball coach after a drunk driving arrest and is demanding he be reinstated, 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 legal action if 69-year-old Huggins does not get his job back. 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.
Bob Huggins says he never resigned as West Virginia basketball coach after DUI indictment
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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 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 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 athletics 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.’
Assistant coach Josh Eilert was promoted to interim head coach for the 2023–24 season
Less than an hour later, the university released two statements. One of them 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 effective men’s basketball coach at West Virginia University.”
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.
Huggins was charged with drunk driving on June 16 in Pittsburgh
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 “doesn’t want a lawsuit. Rather, he seeks the correction of a clear violation of his employment contract with WVU.’
Huggins was the third winningest 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.
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