Bill Bayno Last College: Sacred Heart - 1985 Position: Head Coach Experience: (94-64) 6th Season At LMU: 0-0 (First Season)

Bill Bayno Bio in PDF Format

For Bill Bayno it has always been about the people and relationships. It always has been that way. From his time at Burke Catholic High School in New York, his playing days at UMass and Sacred Heart University, his coaching stints with legends in college coaching, to coaching in the pros at various levels in the ABA, CBA, internationally and in the NBA, it has always been about the people and their relationships. With that, it will not be a surprise that people have led Bayno back to college coaching and this time as the head coach of Loyola Marymount University

LMU Athletics Director Dr. William Husak formally announced during a press conference at Gersten Pavilion Wednesday, April 9, that Bayno was selected as head coach of the men's basketball program. Bayno, who was with the Portland Trail Blazers organization since 2004, becomes the 24th head coach of the Lions program.

"It just felt like family at LMU. For me to do this at this point in my life, there were a couple things that absolutely had to happen," said Bayno. "It had to be in Southern California. I have lived here for three years and have fallen in love with it. So I wasn't going to coach anywhere other than Southern California, at least at this time in my life. And it had to be with good people. With this job there are certainly some challenges, but I wasn't going to do this and get back into the college game and all that entails unless I was around good people. I can't say enough about the people on this campus. They made me feel like it was home. The people I met here had a lot to do with the decision to come here."

The feeling of family is what impressed LMU about Bayno as well. "A big thing that really impressed me, never have I seen one person have so many people deeply care about an individual," said Husak. "Bill has a lot of friends who love him and care about him and want to see him become successful as a head basketball coach. The relationships that he has with people is truly impressive."

For Bayno, the opportunity to return to college coaching and the opportunity to bring the Lions back to the top of the West Coast Conference couldn't have come at a better time.

"I am just at a point in my life I really felt I wanted to take on this challenge. I left a great job with Portland. They went above and beyond to keep me there. The NBA assistant life is the best life in the world. There is very little pressure, every day it is fun to come to work and it is such a first class situation, it is hard to walk away," said Bayno. "We had great players up there, I loved working for Nate (Trail Blazers Head Coach Nate MacMillian) and Kevin (Trail Blazers' General Manager Kevin Pritchard) is one of my best friends. I left a lot to come here but that is how much I believe in this situation. I just felt like now is the time."

For Husak, the energy and excitement that Bayno showed for LMU made him a perfect fit for the Lions.

"Bill Bayno has the desire to be back in the college basketball world," said Husak. "He has the desire to be at LMU. I think this is perfect timing for both parties. It is the opportunity that LMU presents for him and just the fact that we are such a good match."

For the past five years, Bayno has been a member of the Portland Trail Blazers' staff, becoming instrumental in their development.

"Bill Bayno has been invaluable to our organization. The best thing he's done is work out our guys and become a great development coach, but he also helped a lot in the scouting department. He developed a very close bond with the players and that kind of experience he's learned here in the NBA will help him in recruiting, developing and in scouting and preparing for games," said Pritchard. "Bill's communication skills are off the charts. I think that's the No. 1 thing that he does very well. He's got a great emotional intelligence. We feel like it's going to be very hard to replace him. I don't know if you replace a guy like Bill. You do your best, but he brought a unique set of skills that I'm not sure one person could replace."

Player development was another big reason Bayno is now at LMU.

"Bill is the right person to be at LMU. He is a great recruiter, his reputation for player development is extremely strong, and he has the energy to make those around him better. I think his pro experience and his reputation in developing players and the relationships he has with them is quite evident. I think that is something that would be attractive to those athletes that are not only here at LMU now but those who will come in the future," said Husak. "LMU is anxious to go ahead and return to a role of prominence in collegiate basketball. Bill Bayno is the guy to get us there."

Bayno also believes that LMU can become something special. "LMU can be a major college program because of this campus, because of the academics, because of our staff and because of my recruiting contacts," said Bayno. "I think this is a sleeping giant. The goal is to build a winning program that has a chance to win the WCC every year, with good kids that want to graduate and then see how far we can take it. LMU is on one of the most beautiful campuses I have seen, it has great academics and more importantly good people here who care about kids so much so that when kids come here on campus they are going to feel how I felt and want to come here right away."

The 2007-08 season marked Bayno's second as an assistant coach on the Trail Blazers' bench. Prior to 2006-07, Bayno served for two years as an international and collegiate scout for the organization. Before to joining the club, he was the head coach of the 2003 CBA Champion Yakama Sun Kings for one-and-a-half seasons (2002-03). In 2002, as the head coach of Talk `n Text of the Philippine Professional Basketball Association, Bayno won the regular season title and led his team to the final round of the playoffs where they lost in the final game. Former Trail Blazer Richie Frahm was also a member of that team.

Prior to the professional ranks, Bayno had a career record of 94-64 (.596) after five-plus seasons as the Head Coach of the UNLV Runnin' Rebels. Bayno was hired at UNLV on March 30, 1995, and at the time he was the youngest head coach of an NCAA Division I program at 32.

After his time at UNLV and his time in the professional ranks, he says he is so much more prepared for LMU.

"I feel lucky. I feel I got this job at a time where LMU was really ready to step it up," said Bayno. "I think if we get this program where we all want it to be, the University is going to benefit from it tremendously. I think it is a good fit because this time around they are getting truly a finished product. I look back at UNLV - I was young and it was on the job training. I have become so much more well rounded from a total perspective, through maturity, through having worked with Nate, having coached in the CBA, and coached overseas. I really went back and paid my dues so to speak. I look back at how I was back then and having to figure everything out on the run, I just am so much more prepared now."

In his final full season at UNLV, the 1999-00 Runnin' Rebels recorded a 23-8 overall record and were the inaugural Mountain West Conference champions. The team was 10-4 in the league to tie for first place and won the conference tournament, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The conference tournament title was UNLV's second under Bayno's direction.

For his efforts, Bayno was presented with the 2000 MWC Co-Coach of the Year award and that experience was another piece to him coming to LMU some eight years later.

"In terms of the professional expectations, we were looking for somebody with head coaching experience, Bill has that. We were looking for somebody who has the reputation as a recruiter and developer of players, Bill has that. Also I think at this point in time, LMU has not had a great deal of success in the past, so somebody who is hungry. Bill is that," said Husak. "We were looking for somebody who fits in well with the philosophy of the University in terms of it being a Jesuit institution and educating the whole person. Our philosophy is winning championships, graduating student-athletes in four years and making sure that we create experiences that allow them to grow. That was an attractive philosophy for Bill and it seems to coincide well with who Bill is today, and I think this is the right place, right time for LMU to have Bill Bayno as its head basketball coach."

In 1998-99, UNLV, who was a member of three different conferences during Bayno's tenure, was the WAC Mountain Division co-champions and advanced to the NIT First Round. In 1997-98, UNLV compiled an overall record of 20-13, which included a remarkable run in the WAC Tournament as the Rebels won four games in five days to capture the title and the automatic bid to the big dance, which marked their first appearance since the 1990-91 season.

UNLV compiled an overall record of 22-10 during Bayno's second season in 1996-97. The 22 wins more than doubled his first season's win total and were the most since the 1991-92 season. UNLV made the third round of the 1997 NIT, which marked the program's first postseason appearance since the 1992-93 season.

The UNLV program also had the distinction of having back-to-back NBA lottery picks in 1998 and 1999. Center Keon Clark was the 13th overall pick by the Orlando Magic (1998) and forward Shawn Marion was the ninth overall pick by the Phoenix Suns (1999).

Bayno came to UNLV from the University of Massachusetts, where he was recognized as one of the nation's premier assistant coaches. He served seven years as the associate coach at UMass (1988-95) under then-head coach John Calipari. He played a major role in UMass' rise to national prominence as the Minutemen made five consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the 1995 regional finals and appearing in the 1996 NCAA Final Four. Bayno was the first assistant coach hired by Calipari at UMass and his recruiting ability was credited for the Minutemen's success during Calipari's tenure as head coach.

Bayno attended UMass from 1980-82 and played guard under both Ray Wilson and Tom McLaughlin. He finished his collegiate days at Sacred Heart in Fairfield, Conn. While playing for the Pioneers, he earned Division II All-America honors and participated in two NCAA Tournaments.

Following graduation from Sacred Heart in 1985, he was invited to participate in the 1985 New York Knicks rookie camp as a free agent.

He started his collegiate coaching career as P.J. Carlesimo's first graduate assistant at Seton Hall. It was there that Bayno got his first taste of college recruiting, taking charge of underclass recruiting. He also worked closely with the guards and was co-director of the Pirate Basketball School.

In 1987, he joined Larry Brown's staff and helped take Kansas to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. At Kansas, Bayno served as a graduate assistant coach. He did a good deal of scouting at Kansas, did underclass recruiting and organized Brown's training book concerning his philosophy on the transition offense.

After the 1987 season, he left Kansas to become the top assistant at Baptist College in Charleston, S.C., where he remained for a year under Gary Edwards. There, he combined all of the facets of his previous two coaching experiences and helped lead the school to a 17-12 record and the honor of "surprise team in the country," as named by Basketball Times.

In high school, Bayno was an all-county, all-city and "Daily News" all-star selection at John S. Burke Catholic High School. He is a native of Goshen, New York, and is the father of two foster children from Las Vegas, Betty and Semaj Butler.