West Virginia officials say basketball coach Bob Huggins’ fell and broke seven ribs after he took medication on an empty stomach and felt lightheaded.
“He said he kind of stood up quickly and apparently had a bit of lightheadedness and tripped – and I don’t know if he tripped, per se – but he fell down and hit the edge of a table,” West Virginia AD Oliver Luck told the Charleston Daily Mail.
WVU spokeswoman Becky Lofstead on Friday confirmed the report to The Associated Press. She wouldn’t say what the medication was.
Huggins, 56, fell in a Las Vegas hotel room last Friday as he was packing to head to Florida for another AAU event. He was originally said to have broken four ribs. It was later reported he had broken seven.
Luck and West Virginia president Jim Clements told the paper alcohol was not a factor.
“Believe me, it’s probably something Coach Huggins could care less about, as could I, in terms of what other people think,” Luck said.
“I, like most other knowledgeable observers, think Bobby is a tremendous coach. Is he a choir boy? Probably not, but that to me is really immaterial at this point. I certainly have no reason to have any suspicions. I’ve got a lot of trust in Coach Huggins and I believe what he tells me.”
In 2002, Huggins suffered a massive heart attack at the Pittsburgh airport.
Last summer, he got two black eyes when he walked into a door in the middle of the night.
In 2008, he was checking phone messages on an airport tarmac when he tripped on a cone, fell and hit his head.
“I’ve learned over the years that a lot of coaches put a lot of pressure on themselves,” Luck told the paper. “It’s become a very demanding profession, particularly with regard to a high-profile sport, and certainly Bob is maybe the most high-profile guy we have coaching at West Virginia. But I also think he’s been doing it for a long time, and I think he understands what he needs to do to decompress every now and then.
“Am I worried about his health or his condition? Yes, but I’d also say I’m worried about every coach at West Virginia’s health and condition because we have very good coaches. They all have good motors and go pretty hard.”
(The AP contributed)
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