Columnist Dean Juipe: Bayno: ‘I’m aware I’ve got to win’

Dean Juipe

Friday, Nov. 5, 1999 | 11:26 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

It would suit Las Vegans just fine if Bill Bayno became the city's most popular resident.

He's in the running as it is, yet for Bayno to ascend to the top spot would require his UNLV basketball team to have the type of stellar season that Southern Nevadans were once accustomed to and once took somewhat for granted.

People want Bayno to succeed -- there's no doubt about it. He's young, good-looking and just vibrant enough to have boundless public-relations potential.

Yet as he begins his fifth season with the Rebels, Bayno faces a mixed -- and some could argue an increasingly hostile -- crowd. Those still in the coach's corner point to his occasional successes and argue the community must exercise some patience, while those tending to lose faith in him refer to last season's 16-13 record and first-round loss in the diminished NIT as unacceptable.

"I have the same goals as the town has for this program," Bayno said Thursday, seemingly relaxed and comfortable in his Thomas & Mack Center office. "I know how important it is for our fans to see us make it to the next level.

"It's just as important to me."

Of course it is, because his career depends on it. But to Bayno's credit, he isn't fooling himself with a false sense of security.

In fact, he's quite blunt about the likely consequences in the event his program fails to return to the prominence it enjoyed during that bald-headed guy's reign a few years back.

"The pressure I put on myself is greater than the pressure anyone can put on me," Bayno said. "If when my contract's up (after the 2002-03 season) and the city's not happy with me, I move on. It's the nature of the business and it's just that simple.

"I understand that I've got to get this program to a certain level or someone else will be hired to come in and try."

The upcoming season may serve as a -- definitive? -- test. With a recruiting class that elicited raves and a handful of experienced players to draw from, the Rebels should be competitive in any situation and marginally dominant at times.

And, not just to appease Las Vegas' appetite for such things, the Rebels are also looking to run.

"This is a big year," Bayno admitted. "It could be a breakthrough year for us."

Skeptics would counter that they thought Bayno already had his breakthrough year when his 1997-98 squad won the WAC tournament and qualified for the Big Dance. But whatever momentum accompanied that season has long since dissipated, a fact not lost on the coach himself.

"Overnight success isn't always a good thing," he said. "Expectations can get out of hand, and I've had people tell me that winning 22 games my second year and winning the WAC the year after that was the worst thing that could have happened.

"I don't know about that, but I would say it might have been easier for us if we had inverted the last two years."

Las Vegas isn't an easy sports town and UNLV basketball fans aren't always easy to please. They want to win -- and look good doing it -- and they're not much for paltry excuses.

They want their coach to be the city's most popular figure, and they want that popularity to be a reflection of his team's success.