Michigan's Beilein pays first installment to WVU

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Former West Virginia basketball coach John Beilein has made a $290,000 payment on a $1.5 million settlement for leaving for Michigan a year ago with five years remaining on his contract.

The first of five annual payments of $300,000 was due April 3, according to a letter obtained by The Charleston Daily Mail through the Freedom of Information Act that Beilein wrote April 1 to WVU President Mike Garrison.

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 wrote that he made the first payment under protest, calling the buyout clause "unenforceable" and "grossly disproportional" to actual damages incurred by the university. WVU hired Bob Huggins away from Kansas State two days after Beilein's departure.

In the letter, Beilein left open the chance he might contest the settlement later.

"I urge the University to stop using the liquidated damages provision in its employment contracts because such provisions are illegal, onerous, and violate public policy," Beilein wrote.

Alex Macia, WVU's vice president of legal affairs, didn't immediately return a telephone message Tuesday.

The newspaper said the payment was deposited into a WVU Foundation account to be used by the Mountaineer Athletic Club.

The settlement was $1 million less than the buyout penalty in Beilein's contract. Beilein left for Michigan last April after winning the National Invitation Tournament.

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