Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003231737
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RALEIGH, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
The board voted 9-3 during a closed meeting Tuesday to ask its lawyer to begin negotiations to terminate Valvano's contract, The Charlotte Observer reported today.
The move came after N.C. State interim chancellor Larry Monteith painted a dark picture of the academic performance of Valvano's basketball players, The News and Observer of Raleigh reported in Wednesday's editions.
Valvano has been under pressure following disclosures last month that former basketball player Charles Shackleford accepted $60,000 in loans while a student, a violation of NCAA rules.
A source told the Charlotte paper that trustees have directed Monteith to send Valvano's lawyer a letter informing him that the school will not automatically renew his contract.
"I think Jim Valvano is gone," said the source, who wasn't identified. "The negotiations will not be to honor the contract, but to focus on flaws in it."
The source wouldn't elaborate on what, if any, flaws existed in the coach's five-year contract.
If Valvano refuses to step down, he may have to go to court to seek compensation for the 5 years remaining on his contract, the Raleigh newspaper said.
Contacted Wednesday, Jay Goldberg, an assistant to Valvano's lawyer, Art Kaminsky, said he had received no word from the school.
Valvano was out of town and unavailable for comment, his secretary said.
Under Valvano's contract, the university would be required to pay the coach $400,000 if he leaves, unless another agreement is reached. The source said the money would likely come from the N.C. State athletic department's emergency fund.
Valvano was the subject of a 1989 book, "Personal Fouls," which alleged misdeeds in N.C. State's basketball program. The book led to an NCAA investigation that found some team members had violated rules by selling school-issued athletic shoes and complimentary game tickets.
The NCAA barred the team from postseason play this year and put it on two years' probation.
The findings prompted broad reforms in sports programs throughout the university system.
Last month, the State Bureau of Investigation confirmed it is investigating allegations that Shackleford and former teammates shaved points during the 1987-88 season. Shackleford and others deny any point-shaving.
Valvano said he had no knowledge of the earlier NCAA violations, of any point-shaving or of loans to Shackleford, who plays now for the NBA New Jersey Nets.
During Tuesday's emergency meeting of the 13-member Board of Trustees, Monteith ticked off a litany of statistics about academic problems of players on Valvano's teams.
"He really laid it all out about the academic performance of the team," The News and Observer quoted one unidentified person as saying. "It's miserable."
The review included previously unreleased information from the campus public safety office, which documented a pattern of basketball players being in trouble with campus authorities.
It also included data about the academic performance of football players, whose grade-point averages have increased more than half a letter grade since Coach Dick Sheridan arrived in 1986.
Howard Manning, the Raleigh lawyer who is representing the board in its negotiations with the coach's agent, asked trustees for a week to secure Valvano's resignation.
Manning told board members that he planned to present the information about serious academic problems to Valvano's agent.
University officials reached Wednesday refused to comment publicly on what transpired at the meeting, referring all inquiries to Manning, who could not be reached for comment.
by CNB