Hall of Fame College Coach Resigns After DUI

West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins publicly apologizes
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 18, 2023 6:38 AM CDT
Hall of Fame College Coach Resigns After DUI
West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins has resigned.   (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

A giant name in college basketball might be done with the game after being arrested Friday night on charges of drunken driving. West Virginia's Bob Huggins publicly apologized and resigned as coach on Saturday, reports ESPN. "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," the 69-year-old Hall of Fame coach wrote in a statement. The arrest is the second time in a month Huggins has had to apologize for his actions, the first coming when he used a homophobic slur, more than once, in a radio interview.

Police say Huggins was charged after an officer came across his SUV blocking traffic on a Pittsburgh street with the driver's side door open and a shredded tire, per CNN. Police say Huggins failed field sobriety tests and blew a 0.210 BAC, twice the legal limit. He also told police he thought he was in Columbus, Ohio, not Pittsburgh, reports KDKA. He said he remembered stopping at a Burger King in Washington, Pennsylvania, at 1:30pm earlier in the day, and nothing after that.

Huggins is the third-winningest coach in Division I history with 935 wins, behind only Mike Krzyzewski of Duke (1,202) and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, per the AP. He coached the Cincinnati Bearcats for 16 years before taking over at alma mater West Virginia in 2007. However, his career at Cincinnati also ended after a DUI arrest: He pleaded no contest to the charge in 2004, and while he was allowed to return as coach, the arrest factored into his firing the following year. (More Bob Huggins stories.)

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