Robinson: Outlaw image won’t affect other Rebel sports

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000 | 9:52 a.m.

UNLV football coach John Robinson is about to enter the heart of the recruiting season. So the timing of Tuesday's announcement that the NCAA had placed the Rebel basketball program on probation again and that head coach Bill Bayno had been fired probably wasn't in his best interests.

Ever hear of "guilt by association"?

No doubt more than a few schools will try convince prospective football recruits that UNLV is an outlaw school, not just in basketball but also in football.

But Robinson doesn't see it that way.

"I don't think these things have an effect on other sports," Robinson said.

"Sure, it's a shock to everybody. It's bad news for everybody. But I think our basketball program will be able to bounce back from this. It's got a lot of good things going for it."

Shock seemed to be a word that popped up a lot when the topic of the Bayno firing was brought up on Tuesday.

"Was I shocked with the announcement?," hoops guru Dick Vitale told ESPN.com. "Absolutely not, especially hearing the severe penalty handed down by the NCAA.

"The coach has to be accountable for what happens within a program. When a school is given four years' probation and is banned for one year from postseason play, you can see that is severe."

But respected college basketball writer Frank Burleson of Foxsports.com, the first national Internet sports site to have a story on Bayno's firing on Tuesday morning, said it was unexpected.

"Any time a coach is fired early in the season like that, it is kind of surprising," Burleson said. "But the NCAA was kind of looming out there and the question was whether they'd hold (Bayno) accountable. And they evidently did hold him accountable for what happened there.

"I can't really call what happened shocking, but it seemed like the UNLV coaches were quietly confident when I saw them in Maui (in November) that they would not be hit this hard."

Surprisingly, there were few hints of glee over the Bayno firing on the website "FireBayno.com."

A clock on the site which had been counting down the minutes to Bayno's firing was now blank, and the phrase, "Bayno is fired" was placed under it. There were only a few postings on the message board.

"Hallelujah!" read one. "Free at last. Free at last," said another.

Meanwhile, another web site frequented by UNLV fans, Rebel-Net.com, had much more activity with many venting their anger at the NCAA for targeting UNLV and also at athletic director Charles Cavagnaro and school president Dr. Carol Harter for not standing by their basketball coach.

"I'll be the first to admit I wanted Billy out more than just about anyone," wrote one fan. "But it's really sad how they offed him. ... I can't believe the administration didn't know about the Odom thing the entire time it was happening, and like Bayno is really supposed to control the boosters.

"This is a messy situation. I think Harter and Cavagnaro saved their own butts by offing Billy."

Countered a poster by the name of Huskerrebel: "Hey, someone has to take the fall and it was Bayno. That is the life of a head coach. He sure loved the credit when they were on Cloud Nine ... you gotta take it when you fall, too."

For sure, the reaction to another black day in Rebel basketball history is just beginning.