Hokies, Cavs NCAA bound

Staff reports
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

May 06, 2008 10:10 pm

— Both the Virginia Tech and University of Virginia golf teams have received at-large bids to the NCAA Men's Golf Championship East Regional on May 15-17 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
All-ACC honoree Jurrian van der Vaart is one of three Hokies returning from last year’s 12th place finish in the regionals. The University of Virginia will be the 22nd seed.
In other Virginia Tech golf news, junior Drew Weaver, who won the 2007 British Amateur, has accepted an invitation to play in the AT&T National on July 2-6 at Congressional County Club in Bethesda, MD.
Cavaliers’ tennis No. 1
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The University of Virginia men’s tennis team had three singles players and one doubles team selected for the NCAA Individual Championships, to be held May 21-26 at the Michael Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.
The selections were headlined by Somdev Devvarman, who is the No. 1 seed for the singles tournament, and with Treat Huey , the No. 1 seed for the doubles tournament.
Devvarman, the 2007 NCAA Singles Champion, is looking to be just the fourth player in the past 50 years to win consecutive singles crowns. Also the 2006 NCAA singles runner-up, Devvarman could become the first player since Northwestern’s Marty Riessen to reach three consecutive NCAA singles finals.
Virginia, the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Team Championship, opens play May 10-11 as it hosts first and second round action at the Snyder Tennis Center. The Cavaliers (28-0) meet Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round, with VCU and Penn State also competing in the Charlottesville Regional.
WVU loses scholarships
MORGANTOWN (AP) — Three West Virginia University athletic teams face some scholarship losses next season for failing to meet NCAA academic standards.
Teams falling short of the four-year average score of 925 in the annual academic progress report released Tuesday are men’s soccer (898), wrestling (905) and women’s rowing (919).
The NCAA said scholarships will be reduced by 0.12 for men’s soccer, 0.88 for wrestling and 1.01 for women’s rowing.
“As far as the teams who fell below the 925 score, those issues have been addressed with each program, and I am confident in their improvement plans for the future,” WVU athletic director Ed Pastilong said Tuesday.
West Virginia and Tennessee are the only teams in the Bowl Championship Series subdivision with more than one team that fell short of mandates, the report shows.
WVU’s other 14 programs were all in good standing, and the women’s cross country team recorded a perfect score of 1,000.
All of Marshall’s 16 teams had APR scores above 925.
More than 700 teams nationwide fell short of the mandated cut score.
Huggins contract revealed
MORGANTOWN (AP) — West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins will earn at least $20 million in guaranteed income over the next 10 years of his new contract, which includes incentives that could add thousands more.
Huggins will earn about $1.5 million this year, including a base salary of $250,000 and $1.25 million in supplemental compensation. His salary will increase a minimum of $100,000 per year, and he will receive an annual retention bonus of $100,000 starting next May 1, plus incentives.
Incentives include $10,000 for a first-round appearance in the NCAA tournament and $50,000 if the Mountaineers reach the championship game. Huggins would earn $20,000 if the Mountaineers win or tie for the Big East regular season championship, while a conference tournament title would also give him $20,000.
The Mountaineers went 26-11 this season and advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years.
Huggins has a 616-222 record in 26 seasons as a head coach. He ranks fifth in wins among active Division I coaches.
His contract includes a $4 million buyout clause, the same amount the university is seeking to recover from former football coach Rich Rodriguez, who quit in December to leave for Michigan.
The contract also stipulates Huggins can be fired for substance abuse or habitual intoxication affecting his job performance. A West Virginia spokesman said that is a standard clause in employment contracts.
In 2005, Cincinnati president Nancy Zimpher refused to extend Huggins’ contract following his conviction for drunken driving a year earlier. Huggins took a year off, coached at Kansas State for one season and left for West Virginia, his alma mater, in April 2007.

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