WVU president, AD: Bob Huggins will keep job, receive suspension and salary reduction

West Virginia University men's basketball coach Bob Huggins will return to the sidelines next season after using a homophobic slur multiple times when referring to Xavier University fans.

West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee and Director of Athletics Wren Baker issued a statement Wednesday, calling Huggins' language "inexcusable."

"It was a moment that unfairly and inappropriately hurt many people and has tarnished West Virginia University," the statement reads.

Appearing on Monday's WLW-AM (700) talk show with host Bill Cunningham in a segment called the "Stooge Report," Huggins recalled an incident in which "rubber penises" were thrown on the court during a Crosstown Shootout game between the University of Cincinnati and Xavier. Cunningham joked about the game being "transgender night." Huggins then said: "It was all those f--s and those Catholic f--s I think threw them."

Huggins coached at UC from 1989-2005.

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But Huggins will not be fired. Instead, the head men's basketball coach's salary will be reduced by $1 million, and WVU says those dollars will be used to directly support the university's LGBTQ+ Center, the campus mental health Carruth Center and "other state and national organizations that support marginalized communities."

He will also be suspended for the first three regular season games of the 2023-24 season, and his current employment contract will be amended from a multi-year agreement to a year-by-year agreement that will begin on May 10, 2023 and end April 30, 2024.

Huggins will be required to meet with LGBTQ+ leaders from across West Virginia with guidance from the leadership of WVU's LGBTQ+ Center. Huggins will also be required to meet with leadership from WVU's Carruth Center to "better understand the mental health crisis facing our college students, particularly those in marginalized communities."

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In addition, Gee and Baker said in the statement that they have made it clear to Huggins that any "incidents of similar derogatory and offensive language will result in immediate termination."

The coach has apologized since making his remarks, saying in a statement he "used a completely insensitive and abhorrent phrase that there is simply no excuse for."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: WVU: Bob Huggins will keep job, receive suspension, pay cut