Former UC basketball coach, Naismith Hall-of-Famer uses slur during radio interview
CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Former UC basketball coach Bob Huggins is under fire after using offensive language in a local radio interview Monday afternoon.
During the Bill Cunningham radio show on WLW, Huggins used a homophobic slur to refer to fans of UC's crosstown rival Xavier University.
The remark was made during a callback to a Crosstown Shootout game in which Xavier fans threw sex toys onto the court.
In September, Huggins was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He's now a tenured head coach at West Virginia University.
This past season, he became just the sixth coach in NCAA history with 900 career wins -- the most wins of any active college basketball coach.
Huggins is no stranger to controversy. In 2005, he was pressured to resigned from his position at UC in the wake of a DUI arrest.
He issued an apology on Twitter later Monday afternoon, saying, in part:
"I used a completely insensitive and abhorrent phrase that there is simply no excuse for -- and I won't try to make one here. I deeply apologize to the individuals I have offended, as well as to the Xavier University community, the University of Cincinnati, and West Virginia University...I am ashamed and embarrassed and heartbroken for those I have hurt. I must do better and I will."
West Virginia University Athletics posted a statement as well, saying, in part:
"Coach Huggins' remarks today on a Cincinnati radio show were insensitive, offensive and do not represent our university values...The situation is under review and will be addressed by the university and its athletics department."
No official statements have been made by WLW, iHeartRadio, UC, or Xavier.
