Coach Fired Amid Charges of Discrimination

Jerry Ann Winters, the South Florida women’s basketball coach accused of mistreating and segregating black players, was fired Thursday.

The university upheld a finding that there was “reasonable cause to believe” a player was dismissed from the team in retaliation for complaints of racial discrimination.

Winters was suspended with pay Oct. 25 after the school found evidence she retaliated against Dione Smith, a junior guard who complained about the way the coach treated black players.

“We considered a wide range of options,” South Florida Athletic Director Paul Griffin said. “But quite frankly, given the seriousness of these findings as given on Oct. 25, we were of the opinion that if those findings stood, that termination was the appropriate response.”

The university hired interim Coach Jose Fernandez as Winters’ replacement. Fernandez’s contract will run through the 2001-02 season.

“I am shocked that USF has decided to terminate me on this basis,” Winters said in a statement. “I look forward to the day when I will be vindicated of these false allegations.”

Winters dismissed Smith from the team on April 10. Winters said she did so for “insubordination and disrespect and a lack of communications on her part.”

Smith is one of eight players who have since filed federal lawsuits against Winters, alleging racism.

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Fired Nevada Las Vegas basketball Coach Bill Bayno isn’t going quietly.

An attorney for Bayno said the coach could go to court to try to clear his name and force the university to pay him for the final two-plus years remaining on his contract.

“All options are open,” attorney Steve Owens said.

Bayno is upset that the university pinned him with all the blame on the NCAA probation handed down Tuesday, and probably will challenge UNLV’s assertion that the NCAA violations were his fault.

“I wasn’t charged with anything,” Bayno told the Associated Press after being fired. “The NCAA cleared me of wrongdoing.”

Bayno was fired after the NCAA gave UNLV four years’ probation and a one-year postseason tournament ban for violations stemming from the recruitment of Lamar Odom, now with the Clippers, in 1996 and 1997.

Bayno’s friend, dentist David Chapman, was accused by the NCAA of giving Odom $5,600 in monthly payments when he came to Las Vegas before enrolling at UNLV. Bayno has said he was not aware of the payments and would have turned in Chapman to the NCAA if he had known.

A clause in Bayno’s contract says the university does not have to pay him if he intentionally violated NCAA rules. He made $136,500 in base salary, and about $600,000 overall.