Bob Huggins said that he is more than 300 days sober, even though that is not possible. The 70-year-old Hall of Famer has not touched alcohol since he was arrested for DUI in June 2023, which ultimately led to his ouster as the head basketball coach at West Virginia.
He claims he is not an alcoholic.
Huggins recently spoke with CBS News Pittsburgh about life after his dismissal from the program he coached for 16 seasons. The conversation offered insight into his point of view on everything that went down and what the future might hold.
When asked about whether the night of his arrest led him to rehab on his own, Huggins spoke around the answer. He said that it was something he “needed to do to continue doing what he loves doing.”
That, presumably, means that Huggins felt like he needed to go to rehab to continue coaching— which is something that he is open to doing in “the right situation.” It would be his desire to return to the Mountaineers, but that likely would not be possible without a change in leadership.
Bob Huggins is sober.
Regardless of what motivated him to stop drinking, he said that it led to sobriety of somewhere between 300 and 400 days— even though he was arrested 277 days ago. However, Huggins says that the “temptation” of alcohol is not something that was there prior to his arrest, just like it is not there now.
I wasn’t a guy who had to drink. I was a social drinker.
I wasn’t a guy who came home and drank a fifth. I was a social drinker.
— Bob Huggins, via KDKA-TV
With that being said, he found the rehabilitation process to be a good thing overall. He just does not consider himself an alcoholic.
I wasn’t a guy who had to wake up in the morning and have a drink. I wasn’t a guy who had to have a drink before he went to bed. I didn’t drink every day […]
I think an alcoholic drinks every day, and I didn’t drink every day. I couldn’t drink every day and do what I did.
— Bob Huggins, via KDKA-TV
That does not mean that Huggins does not acknowledge what happened and its ramifications. He would be the first to say that he “should not have put himself in that position.”
If another program is willing to give him another change, Huggins guarantees that there will not be a “strike three,” referring to his use of a homophobic slur and DUI as strikes one and two. West Virginia went 9-23 in its first season without its legendary coach and is searching for his replacement after one year with an interim. It does not seem like the Mountaineers will give him another shot.