Parents Plan to Complain About University Basketball

A group of University High parents who want boys’ basketball Coach Mike Dinneen fired is planning to air complaints about the Trojans’ basketball program tonight at a meeting of the Irvine Unified School District board.

Dan Lynch, a spokesman for the group, said 10-12 speakers also are expected to demand information about the financial relationship between University and a private company that uses the school’s gymnasium for youth sports events in exchange for a percentage of the revenue.

Supt. Dennis Smith said a district investigation of the University athletic program has turned up no wrongdoing. But he acknowledged the district has streamlined and tightened its policy on facility use by outside groups since the complaints surfaced.

Dinneen and boys’ Athletic Director Mark Cunningham called the charges baseless and referred further comment to Smith.

In October, Lynch and five others sent Smith a 14-page letter that was highly critical of Dinneen and a walk-on assistant coach who is no longer at the school.

Smith said the walk-on coach left the school at the end of last season “in good standing.”