MORGANTOWN — In an anticipated response from Bob Huggins’ lawyer David Campbell, Huggins offered his official resignation to WVU in exchange for certain terms, including his placement as “Emeritus Head Coach” for three years and being permitted to return to his office inside the Basketball Practice Facility.
Campbell’s email is the latest in a line of correspondence between his office and that of Stephanie Taylor, WVU Vice President & General Counsel.
MetroNews was the first to report Huggins’ demands and WVU’s response.
Among Huggins’ other demands:
- His payment of $1.25 million of deferred salary should be paid in two installments.
- Huggins’ salary as Emeritus Head Coach would have to be agreed upon.
- Huggins’ health insurance benefits should be paid through April 30, 2024.
- Both Huggins and WVU would agree to a joint statement to publicly resolve the dispute.
Taylor’s response, dated July 14, said the university rejected Huggins’ request to be named Emeritus Head Coach or to allow him to return to his old office.
“Mr. Huggins now needs to respect Coach (Josh) Eilert and the University and realize that it is in everyone’s best interest for our current and future coaches to develop the program as they see fit, free from any perception that Mr. Huggins is exhibiting any control over the program,” Taylor wrote.
Huggins’ use of “Emeritus Head Coach” is a variation of his contract with WVU, which calls his time spent with the school after retiring as “Emeritus Status Coach.”
According to the contract, Huggins’ role at WVU after retiring would be “duties assigned by the (athletic) Director.”
The contract states Huggins — as Emeritus Status Coach — would be involved with duties such as public appearances and fundraising activities.
Huggins’ demand to be named Emeritus Head Coach, according to Campbell’s email, would include fundraising, but also to be a consultant to the men’s basketball program.
In Taylor’s response, WVU would consider Huggins to have some type of role as ambassador, but only if he would agree to certain terms.
Those terms:
- Allow three years to pass.
- Huggins’ publicly acknowledge that he did indeed officially resign on June 17.
- Huggins would have to promise to never seek the WVU men’s basketball head coaching position again or interfere with the program’s coaches and players.
In terms of Huggins’ $1.25 million of deferred compensation, the school was already in the process of working out a payment schedule with Huggins’ previous lawyers Robert Fitzsimmons and James “Rocky” Gianola, prior to Huggins hiring Campbell and claiming on July 10 that he never resigned his position as head coach.
The deferred compensation is money Huggins had withheld from paychecks between 2012-2017.
Under normal circumstances, the money would have been paid out while Huggins served his time as Emeritus Status Coach, along with an annual salary of $50,000 per year.
But nothing has been normal since May, when Huggins was reprimanded after using anti-gay and anti-Catholic slurs during an interview with a Cincinnati radio station.
That forced WVU to suspend Huggins for the first three games of the 2023-24 season, while cutting his annual salary by $1 million.
On June 16, Huggins was arrested on a DUI charge in Pittsburgh and his blood-alcohol content was measured at .021. Pennsylvania’s legal limit is .08.
The school announced on June 17 that Huggins had resigned, which the Hall-of-Fame coach refuted with Campbell’s first letter to WVU on July 10.
Huggins is set to be arraigned on those charges on August 17, in which he is expected to accept an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD).
The ARD in Pennsylvania allows first-time DUI offenders in that state to have the charges removed from public record after completing certain steps, such as completing an Alcohol Highway Safety School course that requires 12.5 hours of actual attendance, among other requirements.
Huggins will be given a year to complete the ARD, but could have the charges removed in six months, if all requirements are met by then.
As to what will happen next in WVU vs. Huggins, it’s unclear.
Campbell responded to Taylor on July 17 stating Huggins would not sign any documents at this time “due to lack of consideration.” Campbell also said, “We will give you advance notice of the next steps.”
