COLLEGE BASKETBALL

BEILEIN LEAVING WEST VIRGINIA FOR MICHIGAN

It was planned to be a meeting where John Beilein told his West Virginia players how to prepare for off-season workouts. Instead, he told them goodbye.

Beilein, who took the Moun taineers from mediocrity to two NCAA tournaments and an NIT championship, is moving on to Michigan.

“Sometimes good things come to an end,” Beilein told a news con ference in Morgantown, W. Va. “It’s time for me to do new things at a new university.”

Beilein accepted Michigan’s of fer earlier in the day, and declined to disclose contract specifics Michigan planned to introduce Beilein at a news conference today in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Beilein took the job despite not visiting Michigan’s campus. He’d never been in Morgantown, either before leaving Richmond for West Virginia.

ALTMAN CHANGES MIND, WILL RETURN TO CREIGHTON

Dana Altman quit as Arkansas basketball coach yesterday, a day after a news conference to announce his hiring.

Altman apologized to Razorbacks fans “with deep regret” and said returning to Creighton was in his family’s best interest.

Arkansas’ chancellor, John White, announced Altman’s departure at a hastily scheduled news conference outside Bud Walton Arena.

“I knew it was a very difficult decision for them and their family,” White said.

Altman has coached the Bluejays for 13 years and said he made the decision to return to the Omaha, Neb., school after talking to his wife and Creighton’s athletic director Bruce Rasmussen, who agreed to take him back.

“This is something I’m doing for my family,” Altman said. “I wish I would have come to that decision earlier.”