Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990 TAG: 9003071643
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BARRY JACOBS THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: RALEIGH, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
"We need to get it done," said a participant in the session, which was conducted by a conference telephone call. "Valvano is obviously willing to come off the position he's taken.
"Obviously, the university will come off its position. There's no problem that reasonable people can't work out."
Informed of the comment, Valvano said: "My sentiments, I think exactly from the first, is the university and Jim Valvano have had a partnership for a decade that has shown a concern for each other through the good times and the bad. I hope that will continue."
The coach repeatedly has insisted he would like to remain at the school.
However, Valvano, who has a five-year contract with the university that includes hefty buyout provisions that could amount to about $500,000, has come under intensified criticism since last week, when accusations surfaced of point-shaving by former N.C. State players, including Charles Shackleford, now a member of the New Jersey Nets.
The charges, the subject of investigation by North Carolina law enforcement authorities, came on the heels of an admission by Shackleford that he took money from two men while at N.C. State.
Shackleford and Valvano have denied any involvement in, or knowledge of, point-shaving. Nevertheless, the most recent developments in a 14-month tale of improprieties involving the basketball program have raised to new heights the calls for Valvano's ouster.
"I think he wants to leave," said the meeting participant. "I think the man is fed up."
Four members of the executive committee participated in the one-hour emergency meeting called by John N. Gregg, chairman of the N.C. State Board of Trustees. Afterward, in a release, the trustees expressed "confidence" in the administration's handling of "a personnel matter," which remained unspecified.
The participant confirmed that the meeting involved Valvano's job status and included expressions of concern that negotiations not be conducted through the news media.
N.C. State's interim chancellor, Larry Monteith, who also participated in the conference call, expressed a desire to suspend further discussion of Valvano's status, at least publicly, until after this weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tournament.
"We have some young men who have not been implicated in anything," he said. "They have given their hearts all year. Let's get them through the tournament."
As he spoke, team members were meeting with a school faculty member to organize a petition drive to rally support for the basketball program and its coach.
In a related matter, university officials denied a report that Jeff Mullins, head coach and athletic director at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, had been offered the job as N.C. State athletic director.
Nora Lynn Finch, an associate athletic director and a member of a search committee for a new athletic director, said applications would not even be evaluated until May 15. Reports to the contrary, she said, are "premature at best."
by CNB