Wren Baker Gives In-Depth Answer on Decision to Retain Bob Huggins
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Earlier this month, West Virginia men's head basketball coach Bob Huggins used a homophobic slur in reference to Xavier fans while on Bill Cunningham's WLW radio show in Cincinnati.
A few days later, the university announced that Huggins will serve a three-game suspension to begin the 2023-24 season, see a $1 million reduction in salary, and will be required to meet with LGBTQ+ leaders from across West Virginia with guidance from the leadership of WVU's LGBTQ+ Center among several other requirements.
WVU athletic director Wren Baker already made a statement regarding the matter but gave a little more insight as to how the university came to the decision it did in a Q&A with WVUSports.com.
"First of all, I think the statement we put out and coach's statement he put out said most of what I would say. What he said was wrong and hurtful. He knows that; we know that, and I know when you must make decisions there is always going to be a continuum of opinions on what's the right decision and the right penalties. I would tell people that we tried to consider all angles and all aspects, and we tried to set a precedent that this is not okay. It's not who we are and not what we stand for, and then chart a course for how can we learn and grow as a community and get better.
"From the very first conversation we had, coach was remorseful, apologetic, and I felt his genuine and sincere sorrow for what he said and the way it reflected on this community. Now, we're going to focus on the future and how we can grow and learn and get better while understanding that there are different viewpoints on how something should be handled. I can understand and respect all those viewpoints, and I just want people to know we tried to chart a path we felt would make us better and help us learn from it.
"I also felt the need to communicate this to our staff in a letter I sent out to them earlier this week. I wanted our staff to hear from me because we have staff members from both communities that were addressed in coach's remarks. I wanted them to know that's not who we are, it's not what we stand for and there are resources and avenues for them to express themselves, including visiting with me if they would like to share their thoughts. We are going to learn from this and get better as an athletics family, along with our community."
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