Morgantown, West Virginia – After former West Virginia Mountaineers forward Oscar Tshiebwe made shocking allegations about his former coach, the legendary Bob Huggins, in an article released on The Athletic yesterday.
Tshiebwe said the following in the article: “Coach Huggins told me he was going to ruin my life if I did that. He was going to say all these different things to NBA GMs so nobody would ever want me. He said a lot of negative things about me to Coach Calipari. He said I got caught smoking weed. He said I got caught with a lot of different women. Crazy stuff I didn’t know about. I told Coach Calipari, ‘If you believe those things, that means I cannot be at Kentucky. But you know me, you recruited me since high school, and I’ve been a faithful kid. I respect every human being.'”
A few hours after the article released, Tshiebwe apparently reached out to the writer of the article, Kyle Tucker, a University of Kentucky beat writer, to clarify that the quotes that he gave Tucker were not from a direct conversation with Huggins but rather was “told by people around him someone at WVU was saying these things.”
Tshiebwe went on to say that the only direct comment from Huggins to him was “You’re ruining your life.” This comment, of course, could be taken in a variety of ways. It could mean that Tshiebwe, an incredible, was ruining his life by his rumored issue with marijuana, his questionable lifestyle choices, or the fact that he allowed himself to get out of shape prior to the start of his sophomore season at West Virginia. The issue is that it could mean a lot of things, including Huggins potentially believing him leaving West Virginia would “ruin his life”, but Tshiebwe’s remarks to Tucker led him to believe initially that Huggins had made these remarks directly to his former player.
In addition, Huggins saying “you’re ruining your life” is a far cry from him reaching out to NBA general managers and Kentucky’s head coach John Calipari to make up lies about him and try to actually ruin his life.
Although there could have been language barriers with Tshiebwe, it’s difficult to have Huggins’ name dragged through the mud when he’s built his career on integrity and honesty, even to his own detriment. With that said, Tshiebwe should issue a brief apology to Bob Huggins to close the chapter on this dark, unusual situation.
Oscar reached out to clarify this was not a direct conversation with Huggins, rather that he was told by people around him someone at WVU was saying these things. Oscar says the only direct comment from Huggins to him was, "You're ruining your life." https://t.co/BHAclg0Khn pic.twitter.com/ssLjC29nBo
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) December 17, 2021
