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Bob Huggins claims he never resigned from West Virginia, per attorney
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Bob Huggins is asking West Virginia to reinstate him as the Mountaineers head coach. A statement attributed to the 69-year-old Hall of Fame coach was released in June, stating that he was stepping down and retiring. Now, Huggins’ attorney says his client never communicated a resignation and that he expects to be reinstated.
Metro News host Hoppy Kercheval obtained the July 7 letter sent by Huggins’ attorney to WVU. Through his attorney, Huggins is claiming that the statement released as his resignation letter was based on a “text message” from his wife.
“Based on press statements, it appears that WVU is taking the position that Coach Huggins voluntarily resigned and terminated the Employment Agreement in advance of April 30, 2024,” a portion of the obtained attorney letter reads. “However, although the press statements purport to have resignation communications directly from Coach Huggins to you and/or the Athletic Director, Coach Huggins has never communicated his resignation to you, the Athletic Director, or anyone at WVU. To the contrary, we understand that the purported “resignation” is incredibly based on a text message from Coach Huggins’ wife.”
WVU has no plans to reinstate Huggins. The school responded to the attorney’s letter by noting Huggins met with players and staffers following his June DUI arrest to say he would not be coaching the Mountaineers.
“What is clear, however, is that on the evening of June 17, 2023, Mr. Huggins met with members of the men’s basketball staff and student-athletes to announce that he would no longer be coaching the team,” WVU’s obtained response states. “The same evening at 9:38 p.m., following a series of written and verbal communications with Mr. (Rocky) Gianola, who was acting as his counsel, Mr. Huggins clearly communicated his resignation and retirement to the University in writing via email (not text message as asserted in your letter).”
Huggins was arrested for DUI in Pittsburgh on June 16. Roughly 26 hours after the arrest, West Virginia announced the coach’s resignation, posting Huggins’ letter addressed to Mountaineer Nation with the following:
“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 intention to retire as head men’s basketball coach at West Virginia University effective immediately.
“My recent actions do not represent the values of the University or the leadership expected in this role. While I have always tried to represent our University with honor, I have let all of you – and myself – down. I am solely responsible for my conduct and sincerely apologize to the University community – particularly to the student-athletes, coaches and staff in our program. I must do better, and I plan to spend the next few months focused on my health and my family so that I can be the person they deserve.”
Josh Eilert was named West Virginia’s interim head coach. Multiple Mountaineer players have transferred since the coaching change.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
