Columnist Dean Juipe: Bayno wants more than he deserves

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, March 7, 2001 | 10:02 a.m.

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

I've always liked Bill Bayno and was sorry to see him lose his job as head coach of the UNLV men's basketball team.

It was a move that accentuated the tailspin the Rebels were already in, let alone one that left Bayno figuratively (and emotionally) unemployed.

It was sudden and it was traumatic.

Yet the university maintained it was deserved, given the NCAA's findings and sanctions related to improper benefits and recruiting transgressions with the Rebels under Bayno's watch.

Based on what we were told even before Bayno was "reassigned" in December, any NCAA penalties that occurred while he was the head coach could -- and would -- result in his immediate dismissal. It was a safeguard the school put into his contract and one that may be in every coach's contract.

When the NCAA hammered the Rebels with a couple of fairly severe penalties, Bayno took the fall. He was exiled into a make-believe position, awaiting a contract settlement that would free him from the university.

But negotiations toward that settlement have reached a stalemate and Bayno, on those rare instances in which he surfaces, remarks that a lawsuit against UNLV may be inevitable.

He wants something in the neighborhood of $800,000.

The school, graciously some would say, feels $225,000 is enough.

Both sides remain far apart -- and Bayno's demands come across as not only baseless but laden with bravado.

So do his quotes.

"It hasn't been fair," he told the Sun's Steve Addy. "I'm not asking for anything ridiculous."

Yes he is.

Getting fired has its degrees of devastation and is never to be taken lightly. Yet in most instances the person being let go is lucky to receive any additional compensation beyond what he's owed that exact minute, and a token severance usually suffices for those who feel they deserve better.

From what we know, UNLV could have sent Bayno packing without so much as paying off what it owed him on his contract through the 2001 season. It could have taken a hardened position and denied him anything beyond the date of his ouster.

But it presented a compromise that would at least keep Bayno from defaulting on his house payment and going hungry. He, however, wants to be paid in full for services he will never render.

He's looking for one heck of a sweetheart deal, one that many being shown the door might dream to receive but one few ever collect.

All he needs is a gun and a mask.

Not only is he after salary that he won't earn, he wants to be compensated for losing revenues related to shoe deals and TV and radio shows. In short, he wants to be paid as if he was still the head coach of the Rebels.

But he's not and it's his own fault that he's not. As such, he should have accepted the school's proposal long ago.

Besides, there's some speculation that he helped sour Rick Pitino on taking the UNLV job, although there's nothing to substantiate that belief.

The best thing he could do is take what's being offered and run. At $200,000, he can still go in style.