North Carolina Rejects Valvano Plea to Stay On

North Carolina State University rejected Jim Valvano’s proposal that he stay as basketball coach with amendments to his contract, his attorney said today.

“There was no indication that they found my proposal attractive in any fashion,” attorney Woody Webb said.

Webb said he plans to seek a hearing before the school’s Board of Trustees but added, “We’re having a hard time getting an audience with any decision maker.”

The lawyer said the university’s lawyers did make a counterproposal to Valvano’s request that he stay as coach.

“We have a highly negative reaction thus far” to the school’s counterproposal, Webb said. “He’s not terribly pleased, because our proposal is that he wants to stay on.”

Webb did not provide details on the school’s counterproposal, saying the school had asked that it not be disclosed. Howard Manning, a private attorney hired by the school, refused comment.

Valvano left town, and Webb said he thinks he canceled plans to attend the Final Four tournament in Denver. A rally by supporters of the coach is planned Friday at the campus.

The North Carolina State Board of Trustees voted 9-3 to have Manning and Andy Vanore, chief deputy attorney general, find a way to terminate Valvano. The coach has been under scrutiny over NCAA violations by team members and allegations of point-shaving by former North Carolina players.

Webb said he does not believe that vote is binding.

“My feeling is that vote was taken without hearing from either Coach Valvano or any representative of Coach Valvano and that it’s fundamentally unfair to make that vote binding without having given him an opportunity to make his case,” Webb said.

Asked how university lawyers received the written proposal to give Valvano a new contract with more specific language regarding his duties, Webb said, “They don’t appear very receptive to me.”

North Carolina State is under NCAA probation because some players sold complimentary tickets and basketball shoes. Valvano said he did not know about the practice and was not personally held responsible by the NCAA.

Pressure for Valvano’s removal increased when former player Charles Shackleford admitted accepting more than $60,000 in loans from two men--one a prospective sports agent--in violation of NCAA rules. Shackleford now plays for the New Jersey Nets.

Later, ABC News quoted an unidentified former player as saying he and other former players, including Shackleford, had helped gamblers fix the outcome of at least four games. Investigators in North Carolina and New Jersey are pursuing the allegations, which have been denied by Shackleford. Valvano has not been implicated in the allegations.