The Wide World of Dirt

Hey Bob,

I have been watching you coach Mountaineer men’s basketball for the past 16 years, and we’ve certainly shared good and bad times.

Going to the Sweet 16 in 2008 after upsetting Duke in the Round of 32 was a really fun time until XAVIER beat us the next week.

We got bounced by Dayton the next year, but you took us to heights we hadn’t seen since Jerry West played in Morgantown.

We went in and took the Big East by storm, winning the tournament for the first time in school history before fighting it out in the tourney where we got to the Final Four.

It has been mostly downhill from there, though.

We’ve gone to the Sweet 16 a few times since then, but we’ve missed out on the tourney five times despite being in a competitive Big 12 conference.

And it hasn’t always been our school being outshined by some of our more esteemed contemporaries like Kansas, Kansas State, and Texas.

It’s been you being outcoached.

That might come off a bit harsh, but sometimes, the truth hurts.

I didn’t want to believe the tweet that I saw where you called Xavier and their school a bunch of “Catholic f–s”. I didn’t want to hear it, but I wanted to do my due diligence.

Much like you, I am a born and raised West Virginian.

I grew up in a small town in the southwestern part of the state and watched your basketball teams practically my entire life.

I was your biggest fan when we finally, finally got out of the Big East with a title. I knew how much that meant to the school and the state abroad.

Hell, it meant a lot to me, even as a 13-year-old kid.

I thought it might get better from there…

It never did.

I also ended up attending West Virginia University, and in my five years at the school, I went to a whole lot of basketball games, even some big wins.

I was at every single takedown of Kansas after Juwan Staten’s game-winner in 2015.

I nearly got my boot stolen because we all rushed the floor in 2016. I was in the fifth row, which was a mistake I did not repeat the following year.

I had a bunch of Press Virginia clothes. I ate the Huggy Bear at Tudor’s Biscuit World.

I literally ate, slept, and breathed WVU men’s basketball while I was at school.

While I got my education, your program started to run out of gas, and my opinion has always been that you got old and stuck in your ways.

I did not once want to be right in that assertion, and man, did you show me how old and stuck in your ways you were on the radio today.

For those that don’t know, I’m pansexual, and I’ve been open about it since I came out to my mom my junior year.

The West Virginia University community was very welcoming of my sexual orientation, which I’m extremely grateful for.

Y’all means all after all, right?

So, when I heard my alma mater’s basketball coach, someone I had immense respect for, use the word fag in the year 2023, it sunk me into my couch.

I couldn’t believe it.

Maybe I didn’t want to believe it.

I think the worst part of this whole situation isn’t just you saying it though.

I want to thank my friend Thom Brennaman for traveling over to Morgantown and speaking to the team. His message isn't one of excuses but one of accountability. It takes courage to confront mistakes head on and I believe our guys learned that from his time with us. pic.twitter.com/53zSpOPS4M

— Bob Huggins (@CoachHuggs) November 21, 2020

It’s that your friend Thom Brennaman paid a visit to WVU and specifically your basketball team per your invitation.

You brought him as an example of someone who was taking proper accountability for their wrongdoings, and at the time, this was a noble thing to do.

Now, that just rings so, so hollow.

I’m not just angry. I’m not just disappointed in you and your conduct. I’m completely at a loss when it comes to the why of this situation.

Do you not remember what got the Man of Faith fired in the first place?

What was Thom being held accountable for, Bob?

I have actively called for your dismissal on social media in the wake of this incident, facing the same punishment that Thom did for what he said.

I hope it happens. It’s what you deserve.

The only way I would even consider having you back as our ball coach is aligning and learning about the LGBTQ+ community, especially on your campus.

It ain’t hard to find us either, Bob. There’s a lot of us gay folks in Morgantown.

But, I don’t have faith that you’ll do this.

It was bad enough that you were past your prime as a coach and getting outstrategized by some of the best minds in college basketball in the tourney practically every March, if we even made it to March.

It was bad enough that you let great recruits slip into the transfer portal to go play for other schools.

This is my final straw.

If you have any moral fiber whatsoever, you’d issue an apology along with your resignation effective immediately, but you’re a stubborn man.

I expect you to dig your heels in and continue being the same fiery asshole that has brought you millions and plenty of peer recognition.

If that’s how you’re going to be, just go home. I don’t want you here anymore.

The LGBTQ+ community doesn’t want a homophobic basketball coach, and they don’t deserve one either.

Here’s the door, coach. I hope you can come back a better human and an ally of the community in the future.