PITTSBURGH — West Virginia basketball coach and former University of Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins was arrested on a DUI charge Friday night in Pittsbugh, according to a joint statement from WVU and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics said.
A Public Safety Blotter from the City of Pittsburgh was posted Saturday detailing Huggins' arrest for impaired driving in Allegheny West. The blotter says the 69-year-old Morgantown resident was charged with Driving Under the Influence.
The blotter also says that Huggins was found in the middle of a road blocking traffic with his driver's side door open, and his SUV had a flat and shredded tire. Police asked Huggins to move his vehicle off the road to help with the flat tire, and they saw him struggle to maneuver the car.
After questioning, the officers believed Huggins was intoxicated, and he failed to pass a field sobriety tests, according to the blotter.
According to Pittsburgh authorities, Huggins was released from custody and will return for a preliminary court hearing at a future date.
Late Saturday night, WVU announced Huggins' resignation.
For Huggins, this isn't his first DUI charge.
On June 8, 2004, the then-UC basketball coach was arrested for DUI in Fairfax. Huggins was pulled over along Wooster Pike where officers found him with slurred speech and vomit on the driver's side door. He also "staggered" out of the vehicle and didn't pass a field sobriety test then.
The two officers that pulled Huggins over in the instance said they had stopped him on the same stretch of road in 2002, but they let him go.
That DUI charge ultimately led to Huggins' downfall at UC as then-President Nancy Zimpher forced Huggins out of his job the following year.
The coach referred to fans of UC rival Xavier as "Catholic f**s."
Cunningham and Steve Moeller, Huggin's former assistant, can be heard laughing as Huggins uses more homophobic slurs while talking about the annual Crosstown Shootout game between UC and Xavier.
The WVU coach released multiple apologies after the incident, and WVU Athletics called the remarks "insensitive" and "offensive."
After WVU's review, Huggins kept his job, but he had multiple consequences, including a $1 million salary reduction, his multi-year contract was amended to a year-by-year and a three-game suspension at the beginning of the 2023-2024 season, among other things.
WVU President E. Gordon Gee and Director of Athletics Wren Baker said Huggins' comments tarnished the university, but they also provided an opportunity for learning.
"We have made it explicitly clear to Coach Huggins that any incidents of similar derogatory and offensive language will result in immediate termination," the university said.
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