Bill Bayno (born May 18, 1962 in Newburgh, New York) is an American basketball coach and former player. Currently, he is an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers. He was also the head coach of the UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball team from 1995 through 2000.
Bayno grew up in Goshen, New York, where he was an all-county, all-city and Daily News all-star selection in basketball at John S. Burke Catholic High School/[1] His father, Joe Bayno, was head basketball coach at Burke[2][3]. He graduated in 1980 and went on to play guard for the University of Massachusetts under coaches Ray Wilson and Tom McLaughlin from 1980 to 1982.[1]
He transferred to Sacred Heart College where he helped the Pioneers to two Division II tournaments and earned selection as a Division II All-American. After graduating in 1985, Bayno was invited to rookie camp with the NBA's New York Knicks as a free agent, but did not make the team.[1]
Bayno pursued a coaching career, serving as a graduate assistant at Seton Hall under head coach P. J. Carlesimo for the 1985-86 season. He was responsible for underclass recruiting and served as co-director of the Pirate Basketball School.[1] Bayno then served during the 1986-87 season as a graduate assistant coach at Kansas under head coach Larry Brown.[1]
Bayno earned his first job as a full-time assistant coach at Baptist College, now known as Charleston Southern. Working under head coach Gary Edwards, Bayno helped lead the Buccaneers to a 17-12 record, and the school was named the “surprise team in the country” for the 1987-88 season by Basketball Times.[1]
Bayno moved on after the season, returning to UMass where he served as assistant coach from 1988 to 1995 under head coach John Calipari. He played a key role in the team's rise to national prominence. During Bayno's tenure the Minutemen made five consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the 1995 regional finals. A year after his departure, UMass reached the Final Four in 1996.[1]
On March 30, 1995 at age 32, Bayno was hired to succeed Tim Grgurich as the head men's coach at UNLV with an annual salary of $600,000[4]. Bayno had a successful career there, with the Runnin' Rebels earning NCAA Tournament bids in 1998 and 2000, and winning four conference championships. During his tenure, Bayno's UNLV teams logged a 94-65 record, making him the third-winningest coach in the school's history[5]
In 1996-97, Bayno's second season at the helm, the Rebels went 22-10 and reached the third round of the 1997 NIT, which marked the program’s first postseason appearance since the 1992-93 season. The 22 wins more than doubled his first season’s win total and were the most at UNLV since 1991-92. Following the season, UNLV signed Bayno to a new five-year contract through the 2002-03 season.[1]
However, in 2000 UNLV was subject to NCAA sanctions for recruiting violations. The penalties included a one-year team suspension from the 2000-01 postseason, and the basketball program was placed on probation for four years. The allegations focused on the 1996 and 1997 recruitment of Lamar Odom, who the NCAA determined had received $5,400 in cash and improper benefits from David Chapman[4], a Las Vegas-area dentist[6] and UNLV booster who was also a friend of Bayno.[7]
Although the NCAA's report did not implicate Bayno, and he denied any involvement in or knowledge of the transgressions, he was nonetheless fired by the university in the wake of the scandal on December 12, 2000.[8] The NCAA officially cleared Bayno of any wrongdoing, and he sued the university for money owed him for the balance of the '00-01 season and the final two years on his contract. He eventually received a $400,000 out-of-court settlement.[4]
After leaving UNLV, Bayno coached the Phoenix Eclipse of the American Basketball Association, the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals of the Philippine Basketball Association, and the Yakima Sun Kings of the Continental Basketball Association, leading the Sun Kings to the CBA championship in 2003.
During his one-year stint in the Philippines, Bayno was fined a league-record $6,000 for his public allegations of game-fixing against the four teams that finished at the top of the PBA standings. All four teams shared common ownership.[4]
In 2005, former Trail Blazer coach Maurice Cheeks was fired by the team, and Tim Grgurich, who was then the Trail Blazers' assistant coach for player development, quit the team in protest. Interim Blazers head coach Kevin Pritchard, whom Bayno had coached and mentored while at Kansas, hired Bayno for the position—the second time in Bayno's career that he had served as Grgurich's replacement.[6] As of November 2007, Bayno remains in this capacity under current Trail Blazer head coach Nate McMillan.