West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

There's only one option for how the Bob Huggins scandal should end

Every minute that passes with Bob Huggins still at West Virginia is a missed opportunity for the university to do the right thing. 

Huggins used an anti-gay slur twice on one of those tired shock-jock radio programs on Cincinnati airwaves, much to the delight of the show’s hosts. 

"He's the best," said one of the hosts following Huggins' homophobic comment.

Afterward, Huggins issued an apology, saying, "I used a completely insensitive and abhorrent phrase that there is simply no excuse for." 

The university responded as well, saying "The situation is under review and will be addressed by the university and its athletic department."

That raises one important question: What exactly is there to review? This isn't a case of he-said, she-said; it's a he-said situation, on public airwaves while representing a university. 

It's an open-and-shut case.

USA Today’s Dan Wolken agrees, writing, “If ... West Virginia athletics director Wren Baker went on a radio show and said the highly offensive, homophobic things Huggins said Monday, he would be fired before nightfall,” in an article published Tuesday morning. 

"Why would anyone hold a basketball coach to a different standard?" Wolken asked.

The Mountaineers may have their reasons. On April 11, Sports Illustrated reported that according to statistician Evan Miyakawa's rankings, the program ranks sixth in the transfer portal this offseason. Five days after that SI report, the Mountaineers made their best addition, landing former Syracuse center Jesse Edwards.

It shouldn't be difficult to refrain from using bigoted language, and it should be even easier to fire someone who does.

West Virginia isn't caught up in an impossible situation. It's an incredibly easy one to fix. Huggins must go. Any other outcome would be laughably weak. 

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