Bob Huggins Claims He Never Resigned From WVU, Threatens Lawsuit, per Report

An attorney for the former men’s basketball coach claims Huggins never formally resigned and is threatening legal action if he’s not reinstated.

An attorney for former West Virginia men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins claims the 69-year-old never formally resigned from his post at the program and intends to sue the university of he’s not reinstated immediately, according to a report from WVMetroNews.

Huggins’s attorneys reportedly sent a letter to the university on Friday, July 7, indicating that Huggins is “simply looking for the correction of a clear breach of his employment agreement with WVU.”

Huggins’s attorney threatened legal action should the university fail to reinstate his client. 

“Based on press statements, it appears that WVU is taking the position that Coach Huggins voluntarily resigned and terminated the Employment Agreement in advance of April 30, 2024,” the attorney wrote in a letter to the university. “However, although the press statements purport to have resignation communications directly from Coach Huggins to you and/or the Athletic Director, Coach Huggins has never communicated his resignation to you, the Athletic Director, or anyone at WVU. To the contrary, we understand that the purported “resignation” is incredibly based on a text message from Coach Huggins’ wife.”

In a letter responding to David A. Campbell, the attorney representing Huggins, WVU made clear it has no intention of reinstating Huggins. In the response, the university called the allegations “completely factually inaccurate” and indicated that the 69-year-old “clearly communicated his resignation and retirement to the University in writing via email.”

In June, the school released a statement indicating that Huggins had resigned from his role as head coach of the Mountaineers’ men’s basketball team. The announcement came two days after his DUI arrest in Pittsburgh. 

Former assistant Josh Eilert was subsequently named the interim head coach.