After an extended leave of absence, Bill Bayno made it official early Monday. He will not return to LMU. The announcement came after doctors recommended that coaching may not be the best thing for his health.
As an outsider looking in, I cannot say that the decision comes as a surprise. After Bayno abandoned the team in late November before the Notre Dame home game, it became clear that he was either incompitent or unwilling to coach the team any longer.
Though the situation seems to be horrible for Bayno, it's even worse for his recruits. Bayno brought in arguably the best class in the West Coast Conference this season. Highlighted by freshmen 3 star forward Kevin Young, 2 star freshman point guard Jared Dubois, freshman Ashley Hamilton (a Great Britain National selectee), freshman LaRon Armstead, and four star transfers Drew Viney (Oregon), and Larry Davis (Seaton Hall), the Lions were looking at a shot at the top of the conference as soon as 2009. At this point, I would be concerned about their ability to field enough players next year.
With the resignation of Bayno, you can nearly throw away Viney and Davis. Both were looking for good coaching and cited Bayno as a main reason for commiting to LMU. Viney also said that he would like to be close to home, which could be LMU's saving grace, but I would expect neither of them to be there next year.
Ashley Hamilton may also be a risk to transfer. A native of England, it can be assumed that he also only committed for coaching reasons. He is a very good post player and one can assume that he is probably getting a lot of looks from some major programs. They just don't make kids with that size and strength anymore. If he wants to leave he's not going to have a short list of suitors.
Lastly is Kevin Young. K-Y, as he is known, is an interesting case as he came very close to not qualifying in the first place. A 6-8 forward with a 35 1/2 inch vertical, Kevin Young is young and raw with limitless natural abilities. He has not been coached correctly this season and is an offensive liability because of it. If he has the grades to move, he could be a star somewhere else. He enjoys LMU, but will the coaching difficulties be enough to move him as well.
Though Bayno is an excellent recruiter, one can only be wary of his tactics. Getting run out of UNLV for the method in which Lamar Odum was recruited, Bayno was a risk from the start. LMU gambled and lost. Unfortunately this loss will probably push them even further back than they were before. How far the mighty have fallen since a 1988 sweet 16 run.
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haha this is so full of errors and bias it is not even funny.
ReplyDelete"He has not been coached correctly this season and is an offensive liability because of it."
Why do you believe Kevin Young has not been coached correctly this season. He is a FRESHMAN starting on a very very young team. Of course he has made his mistakes, but he has played better than any of USD's freshman this year.
"Though Bayno is an excellent recruiter, one can only be wary of his tactics. Getting run out of UNLV for the method in which Lamar Odum was recruited, Bayno was a risk from the start."
What proof do you have of this. How can you blame Bayno for what a booster did in the Lamar OdOm(by the way) recruiting case. Bayno has never been convicted of any wrong doing, and has been a great recruiter at LMU.
"Unfortunately this loss will probably push them even further back than they were before."
I doubt that. You cannot be much worse than a 5 win team last year and 1 win this year. A player on the team this year has already stated he believes everyone is coming back, the only question marks will be the recruits. Nevertheless, with the current roster healthy and the two transfer, LMU will easily be in the top of the WCC next year, by far an improvement.
"How far the mighty have fallen since a 1988 sweet 16 run. " Last by not least it was an Elite Eight run in 1990.
My apologies, i'm not as sharp as I should be on my LMU history.
ReplyDeleteAs for Bayno at UNLV, it's my opinion and it was a risk in hiring him. He wouldn't have been fired if he had no part. They made the NIT the year he was canned. You can sit here and say he did absolutely nothing, but from the scope of the situation, his contract had a clause that said he could be fired if he knew of violations. He may not have fired the shot, but he hid the smoking gun. End of story.
Kevin has been poorly coached in my opinion. He's running baseline and standing in the corner. He need's to be taught post moves. His numbers don't lie, he's been terrible offensively.
As for the column being biased, of course it is. None of them have transferred yet and it's pure speculation. All i'm saying is that playing for a low ncaa coach in Good is not what many of these kids signed up for. I feel for LMU, I really do, but the future is no longer as bright. Losing Bayno is a big blow.
I expect to see the same type of jumping ship as I saw at Pepperdine last season.
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