Alden’s meddling unnerves head of Regents

Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2000 | 10:34 a.m.

Board of Regents Chairwoman Thalia Dondero this morning blasted a fellow regent for publicly discussing a proposed settlement with fired UNLV basketball coach Bill Bayno.

This came as Tom Ray, the university system's general counsel, sent a letter to Bayno's lawyer, John Moran Jr., saying the regents would not have a special meeting to consider reinstating Bayno.

Late last week, Moran wrote to Dondero threatening legal action if she didn't call an emergency special session over Bayno's "unprofessional" firing.

But Ray, in a terse response on Monday, informed Moran that Bayno's dismissal was a personnel matter that should be addressed to UNLV President Carol Harter, not the regents.

Dondero, meanwhile, rapped Regent Mark Alden, a Bayno supporter who has been critical of the coach's firing, for meddling in settlement talks with Bayno.

"I'm upset that he's doing that when it's in the hands of the university system's attorney," Dondero told the Sun. "This shouldn't be out for discussion in front of everybody in the world. Doesn't he have a conflict of interest?"

Dondero said she planned to express her anger today directly to Alden, who is Bayno's accountant.

Alden could not be reached for comment this morning.

Dondero said she also would talk to UNLV Athletic Director Charlie Cavagnaro about the status of the ongoing discussions with Bayno.

Cavagnaro told the Sun Monday that he was optimistic a settlement could be reached. But he refused to discuss the negotiations.

Ray, who is involved in the negotiations, said Monday he planned to have more talks with Bayno's lawyers today.

Alden told the Sun and other news organizations late Monday that Bayno's camp, despite the tough public rhetoric of wanting to be reinstated, had floated out a settlement offer. The offer, Alden said, called for UNLV to pay Bayno $300,000 in cash and issue a public statement saying the deposed coach was only cited for secondary NCAA recruiting violations.

But Ray said he had not heard of such an offer.

Bayno, who had coached the Rebels since 1995, has two years remaining on his contract, which gives him a base salary of $136,500 a year. His total annual compensation package is more than $600,000.

He was relieved of his coaching duties and reassigned within the athletic department last week after the NCAA placed UNLV on four years' probation and banned the university from postseason play this year for recruiting violations and other infractions dating back to 1996.

In his letter last week, Moran had harsh words for the way Harter and Cavagnaro took away his client's basketball duties during the holiday season.

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

In his one-page response, Ray told Moran that UNLV was well within its rights under Bayno's contract to terminate the coach.

"The director of athletics is currently drafting a job description for Mr. Bayno's new assignment," Ray wrote.

"As to your request to the Board of Regents chair that she call a special meeting of the Board of Regents to discuss this matter, Ms. Dondero has stated to me that she does not intend to call a special meeting ... This is a personnel matter, which should be addressed to the president."