Former West Virginia Head Coach Bob Huggins Speaks Publicly for First Time Since DUI Arrest

On Tuesday, former West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins spoke publicly for the first time since he resigned in June after being arrested for DUI.

Huggins, 70, was arrested and charged with DUI on June 16 in Pittsburgh. According to officers, he stopped his SUV in the middle of traffic due to a shredded tire, with a breath test revealing his blood alcohol content (BAC) to be .210% -- nearly triple the legal limit in the state of Pennsylvania.

The police report also stated that Huggins thought he was in "Columbus", a fact that the longtime Mountaineer coach disputed during a Tuesday appearance on his "Full Court Press" radio program.

“That’s an absolute lie," Huggins, who added that he was "trying to joke around a little bit" with the Columbus comment, said. "I knew exactly where I was. I just didn’t know the area, I don’t know the streets in Pittsburgh. Then going down there and being in the middle of the Taylor Swift concert letting out.”

The day after he was arrested, West Virginia released a resignation and retirement statement in Huggins' name. Per the statement, Huggins said that his "recent actions do not represent the values of the University or the leadership expected in this role."

However, on July 8, Huggins' attorney, David A. Campbell, wrote a letter -- which was obtained by ESPN's Myron Medcalf -- to West Virginia claiming that Huggins' wife, June, sent the aforementioned letter, and that Huggins did not give a "formal" resignation to the university.

Stephanie D. Taylor, West Virginia's vice president and general counsel, pushed back against the assertions made in Campbell's later that same day. Huggins, though, backed up his attorney's claims two days later, saying he "did not draft or review WVU's statement."

On Tuesday, he expressed confusion at the entire situation.

“To tell the honest truth, the guy over at the athletic department pretty much convinced my wife that we would lose all of our benefits if I didn’t resign, which is not true," Huggins said. "... I had so many things going around in my head I didn’t really know what was going on. I don’t think I resigned. I don’t ever remember signing anything that said I resigned."

In August, Huggins entered a 12-month alcohol-rehab program to resolve the DUI. On Tuesday, he said it's been 142 days since he last had a drink.

"You go through what you have to go through after that, and I did that," Huggins, who also was the head coach at Walsh, Akron, Cincinnati and Kansas State, said. "Then I said I’m going to rehab. So, I went to rehab. I did that on my own, no one told me to do that. I went to rehab because I thought that was the right thing to do, that’s what I needed to do. I spent a great deal of time in rehab.”