Valvano Awaiting Financial Settlement

Jim Valvano is all but out as basketball coach at North Carolina State and all that remains is for the two sides to work out a financial settlement, his attorney said today.

“That’s the way I read it. It appears that the option of him staying on as coach is no longer available,” attorney Woody Webb said.

“We now know what we need to focus on in the sense that it appears there’s going to have to be some monetary resolution of the situation or there’ll be a judicial resolution,” he said.

North Carolina State attorneys have been given permission to sue Valvano for breach of contract.

Webb said, however, that he disputed claims by the school’s attorneys that they have the authority to make all decisions regarding Valvano’s future.

“There is some question now as to the authority that was bestowed on the attorneys by the board of trustees,” he said.

Asked whether Valvano might be willing to go to court to keep his job, Webb said they had not discussed that possibility. But he added, “He’d rather be on the basketball court than in court.”

Webb said he asked the school’s attorney to be allowed to meet with the board of trustees. “They politely noted the request, but there was no indication such a meeting would be forthcoming.”

Valvano, who has coached the Wolfpack for 10 years, led North Carolina State to a stunning victory over heavily favored Houston in the 1983 NCAA championship.

Since January, however, he and the basketball program have been the targets of controversy. North Carolina State was placed on two years’ NCAA probation last fall for violations involving the sale of sneakers and tickets.

Sources told the News and Observer of Raleigh that legal proceedings to remove Valvano would probably be initiated by the end of the week unless Valvano voluntarily agreed to step down.

The University of North Carolina Board of Governors voted unanimously Monday to allow school officials to file suit against Valvano to force his resignation. The vote came during a two-hour closed session of the board, which oversees the state’s 16-campus public university system. The board must authorize member universities to pursue legal actions.

Board Chairman Robert (Roddy) Jones said after the vote that he hopes the question of Valvano’s future does not end up in court.

“The system is not proud of anything that goes on this long within our 16-campus system,” Jones said. “And, of course, N.C. State University, the board of trustees and all the friends of N.C. State wish for this to come to a speedy conclusion.

“The next step will be up to N.C. State University’s private counsel, along with his coordination with the attorney general’s office.”

Neither N.C. State interim Chancellor Larry Monteith nor Howard Manning, an attorney for the school, would comment on the school’s plans.