Milan Denies Valvano Report

Jim Valvano, under pressure to resign at North Carolina State, may be on his way to the Italian basketball league, a Milan sports newspaper says. The Italian team says: No way.

An executive of Italian basketball champion Philips Milan on Friday denied a published report that the club is talking with Valvano and might sign him for next season.

“The report is groundless,” Tony Cappellari, general manager of Philips Milan, told The Associated Press on Friday. “We did not contact Valvano and do not immediately plan to change coaches.”

Valvano, however, did not deny the report. Contacted at the airport when he returned from New York to Raleigh on Friday, the coach said only: “It is best to concentrate on the present at this time.”

Cappellari said the disappointing performance of Philips in the Italian league this season has sparked a number of false reports about a coaching change.

Latest among them is a report by Italy’s largest sports daily, Gazzetta dello Sport of Milan, that Valvano was negotiating his transfer to Philips. The report appeared in Friday’s paper and said the team and Valvano may be nearing a deal.

The Italian newspaper said Valvano planned to bring playmaking guard Chris Corchiani to Italy with him.

Valvano has come under fire at North Carolina State, which already is under NCAA probation and now is the target of a point-shaving investigation. With the faculty already calling for his resignation or firing, two of the state’s newspapers on Friday joined the cries for Valvano’s head.

“Philips has a tradition of changing few coaches,” Cappellari said. “In any case the decision is always taken at the end of the season, never during.”

Philips, currently coached by Franco Casalini, has struggled all season and won’t make the playoffs.