MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Former West Virginia basketball coach
John Beilein has made a $290,000 payment on a 1.5 million-dollar
settlement for leaving for Michigan a year ago with five years
remaining on his contract.
That's according to a according to a letter obtained by The
Charleston Daily Mail through the Freedom of Information Act that
Beilein wrote April 1st to WVU President Mike Garrison.
The first of five annual payments of $300,000 was due April 3rd.
Beilein wrote he deducted $10,000 from the payment -- $5,000
each as incentives in his contracts for the team's grade-point
average and graduation rate following his final season at WVU.
Beilein also wrote that he made the first payment under protest.
He called the buyout clause "grossly disproportional" to actual
damages incurred by the university.
The settlement was 1 million dollars less than the buyout
penalty in Beilein's contract.