Bob Huggins Denies Resignation, WVU Responds
It appears, former or current depending on who you ask, West Virginia University men’s basketball head coach Bob Huggins will not go quietly into retirement.
Saturday night, Hoppy Kercheval of Metro News released a pair of documents featuring Huggins and WVU.
Huggins was involved in an incident in Pittsburgh in early June where he was arrested for a DUI. A day later, allegedly, Huggins sent in a letter of resignation to Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker and Gordon Gee. Now, Huggins is contesting the matter.
His new legal representative, Dan Campbell from the law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith out of Cincinnati, Ohio, recently sent a letter to the university. Huggins is seeking the "correction of a clear breach of employment agreement with WVU," adding he never officially sent in his resignation to WVU, and he is rightful head coach of the Mountaineers.
The letter also states Huggins’ scene in Pittsburgh will be resolved without charges, and he “has voluntarily sought rehabilitation following the incident in order to leave no doubt that he is fully capable of returning to his duties as WVU Head Basketball Coach. This rehabilitation was not ordered by the Court or any other entity. Rather, to demonstrate his commitment to the WVU basketball program, he took the step of entering the program on a voluntary nature. Coach Huggins will be released from the program soon and we will provide you with a full release for Coach Huggins to return to his active duties as Head Basketball Coach at WVU.
“WVU was not interested in determining the nature of the Pittsburgh incident, Coach Huggins’ statement on the incident, or rehabilitation. Rather, the day following the incident, WVU demanded Coach Huggins’ resignation. Coach Huggins asked for time to review the situation, for an opportunity to speak with you, and the opportunity to complete his rehabilitation program, but WVU refused any delays or discussions. Ultimately, WVU announced Coach Huggins’ resignation based on a text message from Coach Huggins’ wife to Steve Uryasz, WVU’s Deputy Athletics Director.”
Twenty days had passed since Huggins “resigned”. The university’s counsel, Stephanie Taylor, did not accept the terms and pointed out WVU had been in contact with Huggins’ known lawyers Bob Fitzsimmons and James Gianola. Fitzsimmons contacted WVU a day prior to receiving the letter to discuss the benefits under Huggins’ contract following his resignation.
Then, WVU challenged the allegations, stating “on the evening of June 17, 2023, Mr. Huggins met with members of the men’s basketball staff and student-athletes to announce that he would no longer be coaching the team. The same evening at 9:38 p.m., following a series of written and verbal communications with Mr. Gianola, who was acting as his counsel, Mr. Huggins clearly communicated his resignation and retirement to the University in writing via email (not text message as asserted in your letter).”
WVU closed the letter with, "We look forward to learning who is actually representing Mr. Huggins and his position on the matter. Until we hear such confirmation from all of his various lawyers, we will not be continuing any further communications."
Letter to WVU
Dear President Gee:
The law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, LLP represents Robert E. Huggins, West Virginia University’s (“WVU”) Head Basketball Coach. The purpose of this letter is to update WVU on Coach Huggins’ current status and to plan his return to active duties as Head Basketball Coach. If WVU is represented by counsel in this matter, please forward this letter to counsel for prompt review and response. However, Coach Huggins does not desire litigation. Rather, he is simply looking for the correction of a clear breach of his employment agreement with WVU.
As you know, Coach Huggins is employed by WVU pursuant to an Employment Agreement effective August 27, 2021 (the “Employment Agreement”). The Employment Agreement remains in full force and effect, but it was amended with the First Amendment to Employment Agreement effective May 9, 2023 (the “Amendment”). Copies of both agreements are attached hereto for your ease of review of this letter.
Relevant to this letter, the Amendment changed the term of the Employment Agreement to conclude on April 30, 2024. 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. 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.
Section XIV of the Employment Agreement contains the Notice provisions that were negotiated and agreed to by the Parties. Relevant to notice to WVU of Coach Huggins’ early termination of the Employment Agreement, the Employment Agreement requires Coach Huggins to send the Athletic Director and WVU’s General Counsel notice in writing via registered or certified mail. Such notice makes sense – one would certainly not want a coach to be able to resign through a statement made in the heat of the moment after a loss. Section X of the Employment Agreement requires a signed writing, like the Amendment, to modify or amend the Employment Agreement. There is no signed writing or proper notice setting forth Coach Huggins’ resignation from employment with WVU. Accordingly, pursuant to the plain terms of the Employment Agreement, Coach Huggins remains the Head Basketball Coach for WVU – there was never a resignation pursuant to the plain terms of Section XIV of the Employment Agreement.
Based on the press statements issued by WVU over the past days, it is quite obvious that WVU recognizes this legal issue and has tried to correct it through claims that Coach Huggins communicated his resignation directly to you and that he signed a resignation communication sent through WVU’s social media page. Coach Huggins never signed a resignation letter and never communicated a resignation to anyone at WVU. Accordingly, the WVU public comments are not only false, but appear to be an after-the-fact attempt to remedy WVU’s breach of the Employment Agreement.
We look forward to WVU’s explanation for these false statements, but the facts are clear and undisputed. Specifically, Coach Huggins was involved in an incident in Pittsburgh that is now close to being fully resolved without charges. Moreover, Coach Huggins has voluntarily sought rehabilitation following the incident in order to leave no doubt that he is fully capable of returning to his duties as WVU Head Basketball Coach. This rehabilitation was not ordered by the Court or any other entity. Rather, to demonstrate his commitment to the WVU basketball program, he took the step of entering the program on a voluntary nature. Coach Huggins will be released from the program soon and we will provide you with a full release for Coach Huggins to return to his active duties as Head Basketball Coach at WVU.
WVU was not interested in determining the nature of the Pittsburgh incident, Coach Huggins’ statement on the incident, or rehabilitation. Rather, the day following the incident, WVU demanded Coach Huggins’ resignation. Coach Huggins asked for time to review the situation, for an opportunity to speak with you, and the opportunity to complete his rehabilitation program, but WVU refused any delays or discussions. Ultimately, WVU announced Coach Huggins’ resignation based on a text message from Coach Huggins’ wife to Steve Uryasz, WVU’s Deputy Athletics Director. As stated above, this text does not comply with the Employment Agreement and WVU’s threats, short timeframe for a decision, and refusal to even investigate the incident, is very troubling due to Coach Huggins’ long tenure with WVU and his service to the community.
Had WVU simply waited a weekend and looked at the situation with the benefit of speaking with Coach Huggins, we are confident that WVU would have chosen a different path. However, regardless of WVU’s reasons for reaching this point, WVU is faced with the following choices: (1) Reinstate Coach Huggins to his Head Basketball Coach position once the rehabilitation program is completed pursuant to the plain terms of the Employment Agreement; or (2) remain in breach of the Employment Agreement and face litigation. The litigation will not only involve the breach of the Employment Agreement, but also WVU’s clear violation of state and federal law by terminating Coach Huggins without due process or even an interview to determine the true facts, not those reported by the media.
We look forward to your prompt response. Coach Huggins welcomes the dialogue with WVU that he earned through his long service to WVU and the West Virginia community. We all know that times is of the essence in order to correct this wrong that has fallen not only on Coach Huggins, but the WVU basketball players, university community, and the citizens of West Virginia. We look forward to receiving notice from you that WVU welcomes Coach Huggins back to the basketball team.
Very truly yours,
David A. Campbell for LEWIS BRISBOIS BISGAARD & SMITH LLP
West Virgina University's Response
Dear Mr. Campbell:
West Virginia University is in receipt of your July 7, 2023, letter, which purports to be sent on behalf of Mr. Huggins (attached). We are frankly confused by the allegations within the letter.
Aside from being completely factually inaccurate, which we address briefly below, the allegations within this letter are at odds with my conversations yesterday with Mr. Bob Fitzsimmons, a West Virginia lawyer who has recently represented Mr. Huggins in various matters, and with the University’s prior conversations and documented correspondence with Mr. James “Rocky” Gianola, Mr. Huggins’ long-standing lawyer who has historically represented him, who represented him during the May 2023 negotiations with the University, and who represented him in conversations with the University on June 16-17, 2023 when Mr. Huggins decided to resign as WVU Head Men’s Basketball Coach and retire from the University effective immediately.
Yesterday, Mr. Fitzsimmons called me to discuss the benefits to be provided under Mr. Huggins’ contract, as a result of his resignation and retirement. We specifically discussed the payment of his deferred compensation and annual leave balance payout, both of which would not be currently owed to Mr. Huggins if he had not resigned. It appears to us that you may not be aware that Mr. Fitzsimmons, as Mr. Huggins’ other lawyer, has been proceeding under that very same understanding as the University, and the reality as it exists, that Mr. Huggins has in fact resigned and is retired.
The conflicting communications and correspondence from various counsel on Mr. Huggins’s behalf leave the University unclear as to its next steps: continue working collaboratively with Mr. Fitzsimmons on common resignation/retirement benefits for a former University employee and as outlined in Mr. Huggins’ contract; or respond to meritless demand letters and possible frivolous litigation brought forth by you.
What is clear, however, is that on the evening of June 17, 2023, Mr. Huggins met with members of the men’s basketball staff and student-athletes to announce that he would no longer be coaching the team. The same evening at 9:38 p.m., following a series of written and verbal 2 communications with Mr. Gianola, who was acting as his counsel, Mr. Huggins clearly communicated his resignation and retirement to the University in writing via email (not text message as asserted in your letter). Later that same night at 9:42 p.m., Wren Baker, the University’s Athletics Director, with a cc to me as General Counsel, wrote back via email, accepting Mr. Huggins’ resignation and retirement. Both parties have reasonably relied on that resignation and retirement notification in a number of ways since then. Moreover, until Mr. Campbell’s letter of yesterday, 20 days have passed since Mr. Huggins’ resignation and retirement submission with no claim by Mr. Huggins, or his other two lawyers, that he did not in fact resign and retire.
In light of all of this, we need confirmation, substantiated in a reliable writing, as to who is representing Mr. Huggins and what his current legal position is with respect to the University. If Mr. Huggins is somehow now maintaining that he did not resign after discussions with his attorney on June 16-17, then we would ask that whoever is taking that position on his behalf to do their due diligence before asserting a position that is clearly contrary to the documented evidence. To assist in that endeavor, and as a sample, I have attached correspondence from WVU Legal to Mr. Gianola sending proposed resignation and retirement language for Mr. Huggins at Mr. Gianola’s request, and then the actual resignation and retirement communication sent on behalf of Mr. Huggins, which used the same language sent to Mr. Gianola.
Notwithstanding any response, and in no uncertain terms, the University will not accept Mr. Huggins’ revocation of his resignation, nor will it reinstate him as head coach of the men’s basketball program. Moreover, if Mr. Huggins or his counsel attempts to publicly suggest that he somehow did not resign and retire from his position, please be advised that the University will swiftly and aggressively defend itself from these spurious allegations.
We look forward to learning who is actually representing Mr. Huggins and his position on this matter. Until we hear such confirmation from all of his various lawyers, we will not be continuing any further communications.
Sincerely, Stephanie D. Taylor
Vice President & General Counsel
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