MORGANTOWN - There is an interesting, though hardly unusual component to the new contract Bob Huggins signed May 2 to remain the head coach at West Virginia University for the remainder of his career.

And no, it's the conspicuous-by-its-presence $4 million liquidated damages clause, the one everyone agrees isn't necessary, but is nevertheless included.

Rather, Huggins is guaranteed the mean salary for Big East coaches every year beginning in 2009. It's a shrewd, if not selfless move in that one of the country's winningest active coaches is taking a middle-of-the-pack salary in the Big East.

However, it is and will continue to be almost impossible for WVU to determine the mean because, as Associate Athletic Director for finance Russ Sharp says, "you're only as accurate as the information people share and some people don't share that information."

Huggins receives $250,000 in base compensation every year plus supplemental compensation that begins at $1.25 million this season and will increase by no less than $100,000 every year.

If the total compensation is less than the average total salary for a Big East coach, WVU will increase the supplemental compensation to a level that makes Huggins' total compensation equal to the mean Big East coaching salary.

In short, WVU has to make sure Huggins is no worse than the eighth-highest paid coach in the 16-team Big East, which seems like a steal for WVU.

The trouble, though, is that WVU has but a handful of the other 15 salaries at its disposal and will have to more or less approximate the mean salary based on the small sample.

"I think it's just an evaluation that's based on national information and what's out there that you can get your hands on," Sharp said. "You read the newspapers and all the articles and see copies of contracts and glean information from that."

It's difficult, as Sharp suggested, not only because some schools can cling to privacy laws, but because many available contracts provide base and/or supplemental compensation, but the total compensation is, at best, an educated guess.

A quick and totally informal study of Big East coaching salaries suggests Huggins has a top-tier salary. Louisville's Rick Pitino looks like the top earner at what would appear to be better than $4 million annually, thanks to the extension he signed a year ago. Huggins would fall into the next level where the Jim Calhouns, Jim Boeheims and, while he was still in the conference, Tom Creans reside. You'd imagine Mike Brey and John Thompson III could be up there as well, but there is nothing concrete.

As it is, Huggins falls into that range between $1.4 and $1.8 million, though the mean can't be too far away.

"You don't always want to put yourself in the context of top five or top three, Sharp said. "I think what we're all interested in is doing what's right for our own situation."

Money is not an issue here and Huggins is happy to be home as he enters what is now the final chapter of what could proceed to be a Hall of Fame career. In the last season of the 10-year contract, he's slated to make $2.5 million, though the likelihood is it'll be greater than that because his income is tied so tightly to what others in the conference make.

Consider that Pitino's starting salary is $2.5 million. If he remains the coach on July 1, 2010, he gets a $3.6 million bonus. Without any supplemental income - and Louisville has plenty - he makes $6.1 million two years from now.

Think that might have an impact on Huggins' contract?

In essence, if a coach triggers an incentive to boost his salary, it also affects Huggins. If the underpaid Jay Wright has a good season at Villanova and gets a big raise, he's helping Huggins. Every time a top-tier coach gets a raise, so, too, does Huggins.

"A snap-shot in time," Sharp said, "is about the best thing we can look at that helps us find the right figure."

Contact sportswriter Mike Casazza at mi...@dailymail.com or 319-1142.