Bayno asks regents to step in

Monday, Dec. 18, 2000 | 11:42 a.m.

Fired UNLV basketball coach Bill Bayno is threatening legal action if university regents don't conduct an emergency session to consider reinstating him.

Bayno's lawyer, John Moran Jr., sent a four-page letter Friday to Board of Regents Chairwoman Thalia Dondero asking for the quick meeting to review his "unprofessional" firing.

"We believe prompt resolution of this matter is best for everyone involved," Moran wrote. "Accordingly, I urge you to request a special meeting of the Board of Regents to consider Mr. Bayno's position.

"Although Mr. Bayno does not wish to further pursue legal action, if swift action is not taken, he will have no other choice."

Moran said Bayno wants his job back and his name cleared, but will consider a "mutually agreeable financial settlement" if there is no appetite for his reinstatement.

Bayno, who has been coaching the Rebels since 1995, has two years remaining on his contract with an annual compensation package that approaches $600,000.

Athletic Director Charlie Cavagnaro this morning defended the decision to terminate Bayno.

"The decision has been made, and our basketball team is moving forward," he said.

Cavagnaro said he was optimistic that a financial settlement could be reached with Bayno.

"The lawyers have been meeting since last week," he said. "It's reasonable to think there could be a settlement."

Dondero, meanwhile, said a special meeting to reconsider Bayno's dismissal is unlikely.

"I haven't had any support for it right now," she said. "It's too difficult to put together over the holidays."

Dondero said she's still reluctant to second-guess Bayno's firing, but she didn't rule out the possibility of putting the matter on the agenda of the board's regularly scheduled meeting in Las Vegas on Jan. 19.

She said she wants to discuss Moran's letter with UNLV President Carol Harter and the university system's legal counsel, Tom Ray, before making that decision.

On Friday Dondero said she was placing an item on next month's agenda to review UNLV's policies that monitor boosters.

Bayno was let go last week after the NCAA placed UNLV on four years' probation and banned the university from post-season play this year for recruiting violations and other infractions dating back to 1996.

Regent Mark Alden, who has criticized the decision to fire Bayno, acknowledged this morning that the coach faces an "uphill battle" to get his job back.

"It's really the president's and the athletic director's decision," he said. "If we got involved, it would be a case of micro-management."

Alden said he would go along with the "will of the chair" in dealing with the matter.

In his letter, Moran had harsh words for the way Harter and Cavagnaro took away his client's basketball duties and reassigned him within the athletic department during the holiday season.

"Coach Bayno was relieved from his contractual position in the middle of the basketball season in an unprofessional manner by a late-night meeting informing him of his removal," Moran wrote.

"The pretext utilized by the university president was the NCAA report. Upon review, however, the report has absolutely no adverse or negative findings against Coach Bayno whatsoever.

"How the university president can remove Coach Bayno at Christmastime by a late-night decision which detrimentally impacted the basketball program, the team, the students and season ticket holders is beyond me," Moran added.

"It is nothing more than an anticipatory breach of coach Bayno's contractual relationship with the university."

Moran said he "extensively reviewed" the NCAA's infractions report and found that Bayno was not held responsible for any of the listed major violations.

"Instead," Moran said, "it is the university and not Coach Bayno that was found guilty of the most serious violation (a failure to monitor) and those actions which led to additional penalties being imposed upon the university."

Moran said he was "troubled by defamatory statements" university officials made holding Bayno accountable for monitoring the basketball program.

"For the university to now publicly state that Coach Bayno's dismissal is justified because he failed to adequately monitor the program is directly contrary to the university's written representations to the NCAA and directly contrary to the NCAA's findings," Moran wrote.

"I request that such defamatory statements cease immediately before they further injure Coach Bayno."

Moran also said UNLV officials violated Bayno's contract by reassigning him within the athletic department.

Under the contract, university officials could have fired Bayno if he was found to have intentionally violated NCAA rules, Moran explained.

But the NCAA, Moran said, concluded that there was "no evidence of intentional or purposeful violations."

Consequently, UNLV had no right to terminate the coach, he said.