New West Virginia basketball coach John Beilein addresses a news conference in Morgantown, W. Va., Thursday. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — 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, who played for the Mountaineers, but he turned it down.

        Last week, WVU thought it 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, the 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.

        CINCINNATI: The University of Cincinnati will have free admission for its annual men's basketball awards May 7 in Shoemaker Center. Unlike the formal banquet setting of previous years, this ceremony will be an informal gathering on the Shoemaker court.

        Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with player autograph sessions from 5:45-6:45. The awards ceremony begins at 7.

        FREY DRAFTED: Xavier senior forward Kevin Frey was a sixth-round pick of the St.Louis SkyHawks in the United States Basketball League draft. He was the 57th player taken overall.

        Frey played one game last week for the Kentucky Pro Cats of the American Basketball Association. His agent, Doug Newstadt, said he will begin sending tapes of Frey to club teams in Europe.
       — Neil Schmidt, nschmidt@enquirer.com

        JACKSONVILLE: Travis Robinson, a 6-foot-6 guard, will skip his senior year and make himself eligible for the NBA draft.

Sports Stories

College hoops: WVU lands Richmond's Beilein Derby hopefuls entered in Saturday's Lexington Stakes Love takes charge at Hilton Head Golf scores Talladega brings questions Audette, Koivu send Canadiens over Bruins Dantzschler, UCLA on course for gymnastics three-peat The East is wild in the NBA playoffs Cavs stagger through another year Pacers mature in playoff run Capsule look at first-round NBA playoff matchups Coming up this week

Two rallies stave off sweep
Reds box, runs
Kremchek says Jr. improving quickly
Reds have OFs to burn
Sunday's start goes to Rijo
Reds notes: Acevedo demotion a signal
Reds at Chicago Cubs
Baseball notes: 3-12 Milwaukee fires Lopes as manager
AL: Lofton helps White Sox sweep Indians
NL: Sexson gives Royster win in managerial debut
DAUGHERTY: Bengals draft
LeBeau says Harrington worth look
Q&A with Dick LeBeau
Area draft hopefuls can only wait and watch
Who wants to be a millionaire? Not him
Former Browns player wins lawsuit against brokerage firm
Randle El ready to make move
Teams looking to move up and down in first round
NFL notes: James on schedule for return to Colts
Cougars' leader overcomes physical, emotional scars
Does Wyoming have an advantage?
Fast start makes freshman focal point
New rule to help softball games end
Panthers in first after win
Turpin's team tries to follow cross country example
Withrow faced with no where to run