As the Rebels turn …

Steve Addy

Thursday, Jan. 18, 2001 | 10:25 a.m.

As promised, Max Good will be UNLV's basketball coach for the rest of the season.

But he still might be keeping the seat warm for Rick Pitino.

For the first time, Pitino met face-to-face Wednesday with Rebels athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro, who visited Pitino's Miami home to gauge his interest in the coaching job. The daylong meeting resulted in an agreement to meet again in mid-February.

UNLV president Carol Harter said she was encouraged by the meeting's "positive tone," but reiterated that Good will finish out the season as coach, which had come under doubt as the Pitino pursuit intensified.

"Cavagnaro reported to me that he had a very productive meeting with Pitino," Harter said. "This was meant to be a sharing of ideas and philosophies, rather than a negotiation of an immediate change in head coaches. ... The university made no offer of employment, nor did (Pitino) seek one."

Harter did not specify a date for the next meeting with Pitino, nor where it would take place. Pitino canceled a planned visit to Las Vegas this week, saying he wanted to slow the pace of the talks, but was willing to meet with Cavagnaro at his home.

Instead of leaping right back into coaching, Pitino intends to weigh his options for a couple of months. He also plans to join CBS's NCAA Tournament coverage in the studio with Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg.

"We have had some preliminary informal discussions, but nothing is definite," CBS president Sean McManus told USA Today. "Nothing has happened, but something might."

Pitino's reticence to sign with UNLV (or anyone else) during the season stabilizes Good's status. The Rebels are 7-3 since Good succeeded Bill Bayno as coach on Dec. 12, but have lost two in a row amid squabbling by senior starters Kaspars Kambala and Trevor Diggs.

Despite Good's renewed security, the Cavagnaro-Pitino meeting finally made it official that UNLV is seeking a higher-profile coach to invigorate the basketball program.

Good is well-regarded as a strategist and motivator, but Pitino would bring instant marquee value in addition to his coaching ability. He guided Kentucky to the 1996 NCAA championship before an unhappy 3 1/2-year stint as the Boston Celtics' head coach and team president.

Estimates of a potential UNLV offer to Pitino range from $1.5 million to $2 million per year over seven years, most of it from TV-radio appearances, attendance bonuses and a shoe contract. Pitino had a deal with Converse at Kentucky, but UNLV has been with Nike for 20 years.

Bayno received $135,000 per year from Nike, but it's unknown if the apparel company has begun talks with Pitino.

"We can't comment on any negotiations we may be having," Nike spokesman Eric Oberman told the Sun. "If something were to happen later, then we would discuss it."

If the Pitino courtship is raised at the University of Neveda Board of Regents meeting today and Friday in Henderson, two regents say they will express their feelings about the structure of any potential offer to Pitino.

Steve Sisolak and Mark Alden want assurances that UNLV would not be held liable for any outside income in Pitino's contract.

"I'm not going on the hook for shoe deals, personal appearances and TV and radio," Sisolak said. "Those are outside deals that go through us. We're the conduit, but there can't be any secret, back-room deals. Everything has to be above board.

"These (coaching relationships) are great when they start, but if things turn stormy, that is when you have problems. If the community supports (hiring Pitino) and the boosters want to make it happen, that's great. But we also have to protect the taxpayers and the university."

Alden said, "There are a lot of issues that need to be resolved before I would vote on any contract. We're tossing around numbers like $1.5 million for a coach. But we also have a former coach who has been reassigned (Bayno) and is posing litigation. We've got a coach (Good) who has been made promises that have to be kept.

"We don't have a potful of money. In any contract, I want the university responsible only for the base salary. We need to be held harmless for the rest of it."