Bob Huggins of West Virginia arrested, charged with drunk driving
The news
West Virginia men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins was arrested Friday in Pittsburgh and charged with drunk driving.
This is according to a message at the police station public safety siteofficers in Pittsburgh found Huggins blocking traffic in a black SUV just before 8:30 p.m. Huggins’ door was open and the car had “a flat and torn tire”.
Police instructed Huggins to pull his vehicle off the road, which he did with difficulty. He failed field sobriety tests and was arrested.
According to the indictment, police found a white bag full of empty beer cans on the floor of Huggins’ car. A white bag full of cans was found in the trunk. When police asked Huggins where he was, he replied “Columbus,” which the officers believed meant he thought he was in Ohio. Huggins blew a 0.210 on the breathalyzer test, nearly three times the legal alcohol limit of 0.08 in Pennsylvania.
Huggins has since been released. said the university in a statement Saturday morning that it was aware of the incident and was in the process of gathering more information.
The background: Huggins was suspended in May
Last month, Huggins was disciplined after he twice used a homophobic slur and mocked Catholics on a local Cincinnati radio show.
His contract was reworked, with $1 million withheld from his $4.15 million a year salary. Huggins also had to undergo sensitivity training and was suspended for the first three games of the 2023-24 season.
In a statement on May 10the university’s president and athletic director said that Huggins’ actions “have unfairly and inappropriately hurt many people and tarnished West Virginia University.”
The statement added that any future instance of derogatory or offensive language would result in the “immediate termination” of Huggins.
“I have no excuse for the language I have used and I take full responsibility,” Huggins said in a statement at the time. “I will adhere to the actions outlined by the university and athletic leadership to learn from this incident. I have had several conversations over the last 24 hours with colleagues and friends whom I deeply respect and admire, and I am well aware of the pain I have caused.”
Friday’s arrest was not Huggins’ first run-in with the law. Huggins, who coached at the University of Cincinnati from 1989 to 2005, was charged with drunk driving in Ohio in 2004 and pleaded no contest. The school suspended him indefinitely before allowing him to coach for the 2004–05 season. Huggins took over a $3 million buyout from Cincinnati in August 2005.
Why it matters: Huggins is a leading figure in sports
Huggins, 69, has the most wins of any active Division I men’s basketball coach, with 863. In 38 seasons as head coach at Akron, Cincinnati, Kansas State and West Virginia, he led his teams to 26 NCAA tournaments, including two Finals Fours, and won five conference coach of the year awards.
He ranks eighth on the career win list and needs 14 more wins to tie Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp and Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun. But a national title has eluded Huggins, who has the most wins of any coach who has never brought down the championship nets.