Massimino Won’t Get Supplement : College basketball: Additional $375,000 a year above base salary wasn’t approved by UNLV Regents.

Nevada Las Vegas has no plans to pay basketball Coach Rollie Massimino the remainder of nearly $2 million secretly promised him in a supplemental contract by former university officials, UNLV’s interim president said Wednesday.

President Kenny Guinn said that since the contract giving Massimino an extra $375,000 a year above his base salary was never approved by the Board of Regents, the university is not obligated to pay the coach.

“If he wants to try and collect the money, he has to ask the people he thinks owe it to him,” Guinn said. “It is not my responsibility to try and raise money.”

The contract’s existence was revealed publicly Wednesday in a story in the Las Vegas Sun, which said the contract was secretly set up because Massimino didn’t want the full size of his deal made public. With the two contracts and other perks, Massimino would total nearly $1 million a year under his five-year deal.

The extra money was to be paid by a private nonprofit organization in addition to the $511,000 Massimino makes a year from UNLV and a shoe contract.

Guinn, who took over as interim president in May from former president Robert Maxson, said Maxson primarily raised the money to pay the extra guarantee. Guinn said Massimino has been paid $300,000 over the last two years in addition to his salary and is owed $450,000 currently under the contract and another $475,000 next summer.

Guinn said he has been told by the university system’s legal counsel that the university is not obligated to pay the money because it was not approved by the Board of Regents.

The money was to have been paid by an organization dubbed “The Varsity Club,” set up by Maxson and former university legal counsel Brad Booke to funnel the extra cash to the coach.

Maxson, who assumed the presidency of Long Beach State in June, issued a statement saying the supplementary contract was handled in an “appropriate and ethical manner” and was payment for Massimino serving in a public relations capacity for the university.

“There was never an intent to do anything improper; there was simply an effort to match his compensation at Villanova,” Maxson said.

A secretary in the basketball office said Massimino was out of town and couldn’t be reached for comment.