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Pete Thamel, ESPN
West Virginia officials expect men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins to resign in the wake of his arrest on Friday night for allegedly driving under the influence, sources told ESPN late Saturday.
Huggins and the school have been in conversations throughout the day regarding his departure, sources said, and Huggins has indicated that’s his intention. A resolution on Huggins’ departure is expected in the near future.
A source told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello that Huggins informed his players of his impending resignation in a team meeting on Saturday.
Huggins was arrested in Pittsburgh after police observed a black SUV blocking traffic just before 8:30 p.m. Friday. The vehicle had a “flat and shredded tire” and the driver’s side door was open.
After directing the driver — identified as Robert Huggins, 69, of Morgantown, West Virginia — to move the vehicle off the road, officers observed Huggins having trouble maneuvering the SUV and pulled him over. The officers questioned Huggins and, believing he was intoxicated, asked him to perform field sobriety tests, which he failed.
According to the police report, a breath test determined that Huggins’ blood alcohol content was 0.21%, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08% in Pennsylvania. A blood sample also was taken from Huggins at a hospital prior to his release.
Huggins told officers he had been to a basketball camp with his brother in Sherrodsville, Ohio — about 90 minutes from Pittsburgh. An officer said Huggins was asked multiple times what city he was in but never got a clear response, with the coach mentioning the city of Columbus a few times.
The arrest came just six weeks after Huggins used an anti-gay slur in an interview with a Cincinnati radio station.
There already were signs that the 2023-24 season loomed as the final one for Huggins. Along with receiving a $1 million salary reduction and a three-game suspension in the aftermath of his use of the slur, Huggins was essentially given a contract that is guaranteed for only a year.
Huggins, a Morgantown native who played for the Mountaineers in college, has coached at his alma mater since 2007 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September. He has guided the Mountaineers to 11 NCAA tournament appearances, including a Final Four in 2010. Huggins spent one season at Kansas State after leading Cincinnati to 14 straight NCAA tournament appearances from 1992 to 2005.
Huggins was convicted of drunken driving in 2004 while at Cincinnati after pleading no contest. He was suspended for approximately two months by the school and ordered to undergo rehabilitation. But the conviction led to a standoff with then-university president Nancy Zimpher that ultimately resulted in Huggins resigning as Bearcats coach the following year.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello contributed to this report.