Bob Huggins says he never resigned as West Virginia’s basketball coach following a drunk driving arrest and wants his job back, according to a letter from his lawyer to the university.
Huggins’ Cleveland-based attorney, David A. Campbell, wrote to the university Friday that Huggins “never signed a resignation letter and never communicated a resignation to anyone at WVU,” according to the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press. Saturday. .
The letter threatens a lawsuit if Huggins is not reinstated. Huggins’ lawsuits were first reported by the West Virginia MetroNews network.
Huggins was charged with drunk driving in Pittsburgh on June 16. A breath test determined that Huggins’ blood alcohol content was more than double the legal limit. His resignation was announced by the university the following night. A week later, assistant coach Josh Eilert was promoted to interim head coach for the 2023-24 season.
Campbell’s letter said the university announced Huggins’ resignation “based on a text message from Coach Huggins’ wife” to Steve Uryasz, West Virginia’s assistant athletic director.
The university responded to Campbell in a letter Saturday that said, in part: “We are frankly confused by the allegations within the letter.”
WVU said Huggins met with his players and basketball staff members on June 17 “to announce that he would no longer coach the team.” He said Huggins “clearly” communicated his resignation and withdrawal in writing and that “both parties have reasonably relied on that notice of resignation and withdrawal in various ways since then.”
The university provided The AP with a copy of a notice sent by Huggins’ wife, June, earlier that day. She read: “Please accept this correspondence as my formal notice of resignation as the head basketball coach of WVU and as notice of my retirement from West Virginia University, effective immediately.”
The notice was sent from an email address associated with June Huggins, with a signature indicating it was sent via an 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 he responded an hour later writing: “We accept your resignation and wish you the best in your retirement. We appreciate his many years of dedication to WVU.”
Less than an hour after that, the university issued two statements. One announced Huggins’ resignation.
The other was titled “A Message from Bob Huggins to the WVU Community” and began: “Today, I have sent a letter to President Gordon Gee and Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker informing them of my resignation and my intention to step down as director. . men’s basketball coach at West Virginia University effective immediately.”
The resignation was announced a month after the the university gave Huggins a three-game suspension for using an anti-gay slur while denigrating Catholics during a radio interview.
Several of 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 registered or certified mail to the university’s athletic director and general counsel.
Despite the threat of a lawsuit, Campbell’s letter said that Huggins “does not want litigation. Rather, he is simply seeking correction of a clear breach of his employment contract with WVU.”
The 69-year-old Huggins was the third-winningest coach of all time in Division I with 935 wins, trailing only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (1,202) and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim (1,015), both of whom retired.
Unlike the others, Huggins did not win a national title. He led Cincinnati to the Final Four in 1992 and West Virginia in 2010. Huggins was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last September. In 41 seasons, his teams participated in 25 NCAA tournaments and finished in the AP top 10 seven times. The Mountaineers made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances under Huggins.
