West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins appeared on 700 WLW’s Bill Cunningham Show on Monday morning and directed a homophobic slur toward Xavier University fans.
At around the 1:15 mark of this clip, Huggins mentions “all those f**s, those Catholic f**s,” referring to Xavier University fans who would “throw rubber penises on the floor, and then say they didn’t do it.”
Here’s the clip, warning that it contains homophobic language.
⚠️ Here’s the audio of Bob Huggins calling Xavier fans “Catholic f–s” during an appearance on Bill Cunningham’s WLW radio show in Cincinnati pic.twitter.com/JTftGx9rQE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 8, 2023
Huggins was asked by Cunningham if he “poached any Xavier guys to come play for West Virginia” to which the coach replied, “Catholics don’t do that.” Huggins then talked about Xavier fans in an exchange with the show’s hosts about an incident at the Crosstown Shootout when the pair engaged in this conversation.
Huggins: “Any school that can throw rubber penises on the floor and then say they didn’t do it, by god they can get away with anything.”
Cunningham: “I think it was transgender night wasn’t it?”
Huggins: “It was a Crosstown Shootout, yea, no, what it was, was all those f–s, those Catholic f–s I think”
Cunningham: “All right.”
Huggins: “They were envious they didn’t have one.”
The incident was first brought to our attention by meteorologist Steve Norris.
Huggins was the head coach at the University of Cincinnati from 1989-2005 before moving on to Kansas State and then West Virginia and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022. Cunningham has been a radio host in Cincinnati since the early ’80s and also had his own nationally syndicated talk show on the CW in the early 2010s.
UPDATE: Huggins apologized in a statement released on Twitter.
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) May 8, 2023
The statement reads, “Earlier today on a Cincinnati radio program, I was asked about the rivalry between my former employer, the University of Cincinnati, and its crosstown rival, Xavier University. During the conversation, 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 community, and West Virginia University. As I have shared with my players over my 40 years of coaching, there are consequences for our words and actions, and I will fully accept any coming my way. I am ashamed and embarrassed and heartbroken for those I have hurt. I must do better, and I will.”
UPDATE TWO: West Virginia’s athletic department also released a statement.
Statement by WVU Athletics. pic.twitter.com/BGGAErDU22
— WVU Sports (@WVUSports) May 8, 2023
The statement reads, “Coach Huggins’ remarks today on a Cincinnati radio show were insensitive, offensive, and do not represent our university values. Coach Huggins has since apologized. West Virginia University does not condone the use of such language and takes such actions very seriously. The situation is under review and will be addressed by the university and its athletics department.”
