Attorneys to Negotiate Valvano Deal : Basketball: The state attorney general’s office will help negotiate termination of the beleaguered N.C. State coach’s contract.

North Carolina State today brought in the state attorney general’s office and a private attorney to negotiate the termination of basketball Coach Jim Valvano’s contract.

“This morning, the UNC Board of Governors has asked the attorney general’s office to become directly involved in negotiations, and we have agreed,” John Simmons, a spokesman for Atty. Gen. Lacy Thornburg, said today.

“Further, the North Carolina State University board of trustees, because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, feels it would be helpful to also involve an attorney from the private sector, and the attorney general supports that idea so long as nonstate funds are used for the private attorney,” he said.

The executive committee of the N.C. State board of trustees, in a conference call Tuesday, gave a vote of support to the university administrators handling the talks with Valvano and his lawyer. The committee also voted to seek private counsel to represent the university.

Calls for Valvano’s resignation came last week after an ABC News report saying a former North Carolina State player had shaved points.

A New Jersey prosecutor said there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant criminal charges in that state on the alleged point-shaving scheme involving former Wolfpack star Charles Shackleford and a New Jersey businessman. But North Carolina authorities said they will press ahead with their probe.

The Charlotte Observer reported today that sources close to the negotiations said the board wants to avoid a huge settlement payment, and the decision was influenced by the $800,000 buyout North Carolina paid to football Coach Dick Crum two years ago. North Carolina was represented in those negotiations by the university’s legal counsel, Susan Ehringhaus.

“We would expect to have a resolution of the problem, as far as the university is concerned, shortly,” said NCSU trustee Troy Doby of Raleigh, one of the executive committee members. “This is not to say that Mr. Valvano will not remain our coach for a while.

“It is not going to be one of those killer deals,” he said, “We don’t anticipate the kinds of problems Carolina had with Coach Dick Crum.”

Pat Gibbons, a spokesman for Valvano’s lawyer, Art Kaminsky in New York, said no negotiations were under way.

“I think that basically everything at this point is up to the university,” Gibbons said.

Valvano and university administrators said it is time to turn their sights on this weekend’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.