West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence in Pittsburgh on Friday night, according to the police blotter on the city of Pittsburgh's official website. The arrest account from the Pittsburgh Police Department identifies "Robert Huggins, 69, of Morgantown, West Virginia" as the offender.
According to the criminal complaint, Huggins recorded a blood alcohol level of .210 and empty beer cans were found inside trash bags in the vehicle.
Below is more on the incident, according to the police report.
"Just before 8:30 p.m, Pittsburgh Police from Zone 1 observed a black SUV on Merchant Street off of Ridge Avenue in the middle of the road, blocking traffic. The driver's side door was open and the vehicle had a flat and shredded tire. Officers directed the male driver on how best to move off the road so they could help with the flat tire. When they observed him having difficulty maneuvering the SUV to allow vehicles to pass, they activated their lights to pull him over. Upon questioning, officers had strong suspicion to believe the male was intoxicated.
They asked him to exit the vehicle to perform standard field sobriety tests, which he failed. The male was placed in custody without incident and transported for further testing.
Robert Huggins, 69 , of Morgantown, West Virginia was charged with Driving Under the Influence. He was released from custody and will appear for a preliminary hearing at a later date."
Pittsburgh police confirmed to CBS Sports on Saturday that the blotter posting by public information officer Cara Cruz was an official account of Huggins' arrest that happened approximately a half-mile from Acrisure Stadium, which hosted a highly anticipated Taylor Swift concert on Friday night.
The school released a statement shortly after the news broke on Saturday, saying it's aware of the incident and will take action and next steps once its review is complete.
"West Virginia University is aware of an incident last night involving Head Men's Basketball Coach Bob Huggins, for which he was charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in the City of Pittsburgh. We are gathering more information and will take appropriate action once the review is complete," the statement read.
Huggins, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2022, was spared his job earlier this spring after he made homophobic remarks on Cincinnati radio. Soon after those comments, Huggins released a statement that included the following: "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. 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."
Some called for Huggins to be fired. Instead, he was suspended for the first three games of next season and his contract was reduced to a year-by-year agreement. At the time, WVU president E. Gordon Gee and athletic director Wren Baker said in a joint statement, "We have made it explicitly clear to Coach Huggins that any incidents of similar derogatory and offensive language will result in immediate termination."
According to Stadium, Baker met with Mountaineers players on Saturday where the AD said no decision has been made yet on Huggins' future.
Huggins infamously resigned from his job at Cincinnati in 2005 amid myriad issues with the program, one of them being his June 2004 DUI charge while coaching at UC. After his ouster in 2005, Huggins left coaching for a year before being hired at Kansas State in 2006. A year later, Huggins, the winningest active coach in Division I men's basketball, was brought on at WVU (his alma mater), where he's coached since 2007.
