Wed Apr 9 20:56:17 2008

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Bayno gets five-year deal at LMU

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Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Loyola Marymount University formally announced the hiring of Bill Bayno as its new men's basketball coach on Wednesday and signed him to a five-year contract.

"It just felt like family at LMU," said the 45-year-old Bayno. "With this job there are certainly some challenges, but I wasn't going to do this and get back into the college game and all that entails unless I was around good people. I can't say enough about the people on this campus. They made me feel like it was home. The people I met here had a lot to do with the decision to come here."

Bayno, who was an assistant with the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, was the head man at UNLV from 1995 to 2000, compiling a 95-65 record with the Runnin' Rebels and twice reaching the NCAA Tournament. He was fired during the 2000-01 season after alleged recruiting violations of Lamar Odom, who ultimately went to Rhode Island.

Prior to arriving in Las Vegas, Bayno was an assistant to current Memphis head coach John Calipari at the University of Massachusetts.

At LMU, he succeeds Rodney Tention, who resigned on March 12 after three lackluster seasons. Tention compiled a 30-61 record with the Lions, winning just five games in 2007 and going 2-12 in the West Coast Conference.