Basketball position finally filled
WVU hires Richmond’s John Beilein MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – Richmond’s John Beilein was hired as basketball coach at West Virginia on Thursday, a few days after the school’s first choice resigned a week after accepting the job.
“Our fans and players will definitely like him,” West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong said of Beilein. “He is a very good fit for us.”
Since Gale Catlett resigned at the end of the season, the Mountaineers were hard -pressed to find a replacement. They offered the job to Cincinnati’s Bob Huggins, a West Virginian who played for the Mountaineers, but he turned it down.
Last week, WVU thought they had its man in Bowling Green’s Dan Dakich, but he discovered problems he wanted addressed and ended up returning to his former job.
Beilein was 100-53 in five seasons at Richmond, with the Spiders going 22-14 this past season. WVU was 8-20 overall, the worst in school history, and 1-15 in the Big East.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to coach at West Virginia University,” Beilein, 49, said in a statement. “I have a lot of respect for West Virginia, the tradition of the program and Gale Catlett.
“He was a tremendous coach who had a fabulous record at WVU,” said Beilein, a 1975 graduate of Wheeling Jesuit University.
Beilein received a five-year contract that will pay him $550,000 a year. The contract includes a $150,000 base salary and $400,000 in guaranteed promotional income from Mountaineer Athletic Club appearances, radio, television, Internet and endorsements.
He will have an opportunity to earn another $175,000 from summer camps and incentives based on team grade point averages, tournament appearances, ticket sales and Big East championships.
Catlett retired Feb. 14 after 24 seasons and a school-record 565 victories. In his final season, Catlett earned $300,000 per season. Beilein’s deal is about $150,000 more than what Dakich was offered.
Before arriving at Richmond, Beilein spent five years as coach at Canisius. During his tenure, Beilein led the Golden Griffins to three consecutive postseason appearances, including the 1996 NCAA tournament.
Richmond has a history of springing upsets in the tournament. The Spiders are the only team to win first-round games as a 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th seed.
In 1998, they knocked off third-seeded South Carolina 61-60, and in 1991 they became the first 15th seed to win, beating Syracuse 73-69.
Dakich abruptly left Morgantown last Friday, eight days after accepting the job. A possible NCAA rules violation that he uncovered during a chat with players wasn’t the main factor, he said.