Fallout continues after Bob Huggins' homophobic comments on Cincinnati radio show
story again today. West Virginia had basketball coach Bob Huggins still on the job tonight after making some homophobic slurs on WLWT or excuse me, WLW, of course, radio yesterday. A long time UC coach before heading on to West Virginia. WLWT News 5's Brian Hamrick is live with a reaction from people today in Morgantown, West Virginia, where Huggins now coaches. Brian? Yeah, I talked to one of my longtime colleagues in Morgantown who says this has all been very polarizing there. He said it set off a firestorm. There are a lot of different opinions about how this should be handled, not only at WVU, but here at UC at Xavier and even in the gay community.
At the University of Cincinnati, Bob Huggins earned a reputation as a winner. When he left, his coaching career wasn't over and neither was the making of his reputation. You heard these comments of Bob Huggins. What was your reaction when you heard that? Certainly, I mean, it was stunned. I talked to Greg Hunter. He's editor of Blue and Gold News in Morgantown. He's on the radio podcast.
He's known Huggins for years. He covers every single WVU basketball game. It's odd the way this thing is gone, but there are some that are calling for him to be fired. There are a number of others because he has a lot of supporters in the state of West Virginia that are defending him. Opinions vary not only in West Virginia, but at UC, Xavier, even in the gay community. I think you're going to see different things with even within the LGBT community in terms of what people think should happen as in the broader community. Karen Morgan is with the human rights campaign.
She says there could be a positive out of this. Huggins could be an example of how change needs to happen. People will look to him. People do look to him as someone they might look up to in that space, let's say within basketball or within sports. And if someone like him comes out and really has learned or grown from this experience, people are going to listen to him. There is a consequence in Morgantown among those following closely that a decision on the consequences has to be made soon. There's got to be a punishment I would expect.
You know, I no one has actually said that, but you'd have to think there is something and the longer they go without announcing what ultimately that is, that's just going to lead to more problems as another chapter in the Huggins story is about to be written. Yeah, now what strikes many is very strange is that Huggins recently brought in Tom Breneman. Now remember, Breneman was fired for using the exact same language. Huggins wanted him to talk to his team about the consequences of using that kind of language. Reporting live, Brian Hemerick, WLWT News 5.
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