Valvano’s Chances Uncertain : Problems Arise During Meeting; No Offer From UCLA Officials

Jim Valvano, who has a reputation as a non-stop talker, would not stop to talk to reporters Friday morning upon arriving in Los Angeles to meet with UCLA officials about the head basketball coaching position.

But after talking Friday night with UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis and Vice Chancellor Elwin Svenson, it was apparent that Valvano would not be leaving town today with the job or even an offer.

Dalis would not comment afterward, but a source close to UCLA said the meeting was unproductive and that there may be more obstacles between Valvano and university officials than originally thought.

Considering the number of media members that greeted Valvano when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, one would have thought that it was a foregone conclusion that he would be UCLA’s sixth coach since John Wooden retired in 1975.

“I’m practicing my Marcel Marceau imitation,” said Valvano, the head coach at North Carolina State, disembarking from a plane after a flight from Kansas City, Mo., site of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s Final Four basketball tournament.

Valvano, traveling with his wife, Pamela, appeared surprised when he was met by about 20 reporters, photographers and television cameramen. He responded to questions with snappy one-liners but few substantive answers, as the media contingent followed him through the airport.

“This isn’t an appropriate time to comment--not on an escalator,” he said when asked if he has been offered the UCLA job, which became vacant Wednesday when Walt Hazzard was fired.

“I’ll talk at the appropriate time. I’ve never been shy to talk.”

Marc Dellins, UCLA sports information director, said Valvano met Friday night with Dalis and Svenson. Chancellor Charles Young was out of the city.

Dellins said Valvano and his wife looked at real estate in the West Los Angeles area Friday afternoon.

Valvano said he will return to Kansas City in time for this evening’s NCAA semifinal games.

Earlier Friday, Dalis again disputed media reports that Valvano has been offered the job.

“We’re a long way from having anything done,” he said.

Valvano, 42, is in the fifth year of a 10-year contract, which, according to a source close to North Carolina State, pays him a base salary of about $200,000 a year. With outside income, including speaking engagements, a television show, a shoe contract and a basketball camp, the source said Valvano earns close to $750,000 a year.

Two sources said Valvano has a buy-out clause, which would require him to pay $500,000 to North Carolina State if he leaves before the contract expires. The North Carolina State source said school officials would not invoke the clause to prevent Valvano from leaving but might use it as leverage in persuading him to return to Raleigh, N.C., to renegotiate with them, at the least, before accepting another offer.

“They’re afraid he’s going to take the UCLA job without even giving them a chance to talk to him,” the source said.

Dalis would not discuss figures but said media reports that UCLA would be willing to pay Valvano $2.5 million for five years are “way, way high.”

A UCLA source said, however, that money is not an obstacle.

Dalis said other candidates have been contacted but that no one other than Valvano has been invited for an interview.

“We have no plans immediately,” he said.

One UCLA booster, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, said Kansas’ Larry Brown spoke to Chancellor Young Thursday and wants to meet with UCLA officials next week while in Los Angeles for the presentation of the John Wooden Award, given annually to one of the nation’s best college players. Kansas’ Danny Manning is a candidate.

Brown, 47, coached UCLA for two seasons but was not on the best of terms with Young when he left in 1981 to coach the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. The booster said Brown, through an intermediary, has asked three coaches in other sports at UCLA to speak to Young on his behalf.

“Larry came to UCLA from the NBA and wasn’t accustomed to how things worked in college basketball,” the booster said. “But he wants the Chancellor to know that he (Brown) realizes he made mistakes. Basically, he wants a second opportunity.”

Brown, whose Kansas team plays Duke today in an NCAA semifinal game, is not speaking publicly about the opening at UCLA.

Another coach who has a team in the Final Four, Arizona’s Lute Olson, has been mentioned in press reports as a candidate. But according to the Associated Press, that has been denied by Arizona’s athletic director, Cedric Dempsey.

“I talk with Peter Dalis all the time, and he has assured me he would not pursue Lute,” Dempsey said. “Peter and I are good friends, and I trust his word. I’ve got 10 years to go before I start thinking about retirement, and I hope that Lute is still around by then.”

Arizona’s sports information director, Butch Henry, said Olson, who is in the first year of a five-year contract, has an escape clause. But Henry said it does not allow Olson to move to another school in the Pacific 10 Conference until the contract expires. Henry said that condition was included in Olson’s contract after Arizona’s former football coach, Larry Smith, left for USC before the 1987 season.

Times staff writer Tracy Dodds contributed to this story from Kansas City.