Max Good acting head coach

[Deleted]

Bad situation for Coach Good
stress level already high in loyola marymount program
Jerry Tipton - Herald-Leader Staff Writer

Coaching nomad Max Good, whose whistle-tooting wanderings include a stop at Eastern Kentucky University, became the acting coach at Loyola Marymount last weekend.

You could argue that Good is a bad fit for the job. Good wouldn't argue with that assessment.

An unbelievable stretch of bad luck hit Loyola Marymount this season. A series of injuries reduced the roster to seven scholarship players (two of which were career walk-ons until last summer). Then the coach, Bill Bayno, removed himself from the job last weekend to seek treatment for stress and anxiety.

While seeing an "extremely bright" future thanks to two transfers sitting out this season and a solid recruiting class, Good knows this year will be a struggle. A schedule including games against UCLA and Arizona the next three weeks doesn't help.

"The deal is being patient and seeing the big picture," Good said on Friday.

But as Good himself concedes, he's not good at patience. Each individual snapshot in a game can ignite his volcanic temper.

"You know me," he said. "On a (temperament) scale of one to 10, I'm a minus seven."

Good stomps, scowls, yells, cajoles, fumes and spews. And that's in games his team plays well.

He acted "frustrated, angry and petulant as his winless team lost another game last week.

"My wife jumped on me after the game. I had a long talk with myself."

Good is hardly alone as a sourpuss coach. He divides coaches into three categories: disciplinarians, authoritarians and nice guys.

"I'm in the (SOB) category," he said.

(Good's participation gives any interview an X rating. He peppers the conversation with profanity.)

Even the most tranquil coaches develop ulcers. Though coaching attacks his nervous system, Good liked the game and knew as a seventh grader he wanted to coach.

"It keeps you young," he said of coaching. "My wife says it makes me unbelievably immature."

The additional stress of taking over a team during the season is not new to Good. He took over at UNLV, again when Bayno took a leave of absence, earlier this decade.

"My most miserable year," he said.

That was the year that rumors of Rick Pitino going to UNLV enveloped the program. Good tried to coach the team as reporters repeatedly asked players about Pitino's supposedly impending hire.

"Hellish," Good said.

The two seasons at UNLV fit on a coaching resume that includes Eastern Kentucky, 10 years at the Maine Central Institute prep school and Bryant University.

Good noted a loss at Maryland in which Bryant did not shoot a free throw and Maryland shot 38.

"Afterward, I apologized for being so rough on the ACC kids," Good said.

That sense of humor will serve Good well this season.

www.kentucky.com/278/story/610285.html

[lionspride]

Nov 26, 2008 19:14:57 GMT -5 Mr. LMU '04 said:

Lionspride, you are way out of line with attacking Husak and the athletic department for not giving the fans the whole truth. First of all there is a set of laws called HIPPA that restricts businesses from releasing medical conditions about employees, customers, or patients. The LMU communities hands are tied. I have worked for a prominate university in the Los Angeles area. When I spoke with a donor or alum and I heard of a illness they have or have had I was not allowed to talk about it or put it into any reports.

Secondly, just because the basketball team is the only thing that some fans live for Bill Husak must focus on the other sports and student athletes and I think it was a smart move to release the report on sunday. It keeps bad press from LMU and does not hurt our future recruiting as much. Also as the leader of an athletic department, you are on the clock 24/7. You would be pretty naive to think he was not. Husak is the "CEO" of the athletic department.

I am not asking to see Bayno's personal or health records, but instead simply asking for timely release of the "Leave of Absence" information. That Leave of Absence was approved prior to that Notre Dame game (most likely before Wednesday that week). Husak sat on that egg. If Husak is the "CEO of the Athletic Department" and he is "on the clock 24/7," that press release about Bayno's Leave of Absence should have gone out well before Sunday morning. Trust me, this stunt will not be overlooked if Bayno somehow does not return. The way Husak played his hand on this one, he is in a no win situation. If Bayno does not return, Husak is gone. If Bayno returns and this "medical condition" becomes known to be something else that is connected with the Bayno past, Husak will be gone for not letting Bayno go because of this infraction and the message it sends the athletes. The argument against the aforementioned is if Bayno's contract does not mention specific termination causes like the "medical condition" from the past. Husak will argue that rationale, but anyone will tell you that an employment lawyer would have baked that into the contract as a termination event, especially if someone has that in their track record.

[ironlions]

Lionspride, You are correct I was not cool the way we found out.

[lion99]

I agree that while it may not have been the best way to handle the news, I think it's overblown here. The ND game was sold out prior to that week and would have sold out regardless of Bayno. As LMU fans, I'm not sure what we lost with news being withheld a few days (if indeed it was done purposely). Let's hope Bayno comes back strong!

[ironlions]

I'm trying to be positive and keeping the faith Bayno will come back. I hope he is resting up and getting better. I hope he is putting things in perspective and realizes we don't expect him to turn around decades of a poor program in 2 months. He needs to take some deep breaths and look at your roster and recruits and realize we will be just fine.

[lionspride]

Let's realize that taking a "Leave of Absence" in the HR world is a minimum of 2 1/2 to 3 weeks.

The thing that will encourage Bayno is our Lions pulling out some wins. That will overwhelmingly make him feel comfortable if he is truly just stressed, having anxiety attacks, etc. Or Lions are laying goose eggs right now. I thought by now we would have atleast 2 wins under our belts.

Hopefully, we can get in the win column shortly but all these injuries sure make it very very difficult.

[dedicatedlionfan]

I think we have to wait for our injured players to come back, such as teel diedrichs, and hamilton to come back! We will get the wins when they come back to the team!!!!

[zagsfanforlife]

Honestly,
Watching the LMU/ U of A game tonight on tv, I really feel for Coach Good. Think about the situation he is in. Coach Good was head coach of Bryant University where he had an outstanding record in his tenure there. His team had just moved to Division 1 and everything was looking up. Then Bayno gets the job at LMU. In an effort to help and ASSIST his friend Bayno, Good leaves the great situation he has at Bryant to become Bayno's ASSISTANT at LMU. Then Bayno splits after three games, and leaves the team with Coach Good. I can tell Good is having a lot of sleepless nights. You can tell by his mannerisms on the court and when interviewed at halftime, Good even said how he is not doing well. In addition, that article earlier posted said the one year he had to fill in for Bayno was the worst coaching experience of his life. So Bayno, stop letting your friend down, get back on the bench, and coach the team you committed to coach when you signed your big a$$ contract last year. You made him suffer once at UNLV, dont let the same thing happen again.


In other news, WHEN THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO FIND OUT ABOUT BAYNO'S "ILLNESS". To those of you who say its not our business to know, I say to you, bull ****. The season ticket holders, the boosters, LMU students and faculty all have a right to know what the status of their head coach is. Here's why: the fact of the matter is that if Bayno doesnt return, you can bet your house that Vinson will not attend LMU. Garribay will be in question, and some of the young potential studs we have on our team this year who were recruited by Bayno will likely split as well. With a promising year ahead (if Bayno returns) season ticket sales will be blasting through the roof next year. As much as we all love our lions, the fact of the matter is the consumer buys the product. The administration is toying with all of us if they expect people to purchase season tickets for next year if half of the current team and incoming recruits will not be there. Basketball for many students is one of the most if not the most exciting extracurricular activity here at LMU. A man that LMU as an institution has invested some serious cash in is not earning his dollar by coaching the team. At least tell us what the deal is and if he will be returning anytime soon. BECAUSE I GUARANTEE YOU BAYNO AND HUSAK (WHY IS HE STILL HERE?) KNOW WHETHER OR NOT HE WILL BE RETURNING TO LMU.

[dedicatedlionfan]

In some sense I have to agree with zagsfan. We really have to know whether or not Bayno is going to be back. It is such a heartbreaker to us fans who really look forward to a turn around to LMU's program. We see on the schedule teams like Arizona and UCLA at the beginning of the year, have some thought of winning because of Bayno; now all of that has gone down the drain. What is going on in athletics???!!!! What makes it that we can never get a knock on wood???!!!! Lets just hope that this is a hic-up and LMU is really going to make this amazing turn around!!!!

[lionspride]

Dec 3, 2008 3:11:53 GMT -5 @zagsfanforlife said:

Honestly,
Watching the LMU/ U of A game tonight on tv, I really feel for Coach Good. Think about the situation he is in. Coach Good was head coach of Bryant University where he had an outstanding record in his tenure there. His team had just moved to Division 1 and everything was looking up. Then Bayno gets the job at LMU. In an effort to help and ASSIST his friend Bayno, Good leaves the great situation he has at Bryant to become Bayno's ASSISTANT at LMU. Then Bayno splits after three games, and leaves the team with Coach Good. I can tell Good is having a lot of sleepless nights. You can tell by his mannerisms on the court and when interviewed at halftime, Good even said how he is not doing well. In addition, that article earlier posted said the one year he had to fill in for Bayno was the worst coaching experience of his life. So Bayno, stop letting your friend down, get back on the bench, and coach the team you committed to coach when you signed your big a$$ contract last year. You made him suffer once at UNLV, dont let the same thing happen again.


In other news, WHEN THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO FIND OUT ABOUT BAYNO'S "ILLNESS". To those of you who say its not our business to know, I say to you, bull ****. The season ticket holders, the boosters, LMU students and faculty all have a right to know what the status of their head coach is. Here's why: the fact of the matter is that if Bayno doesnt return, you can bet your house that Vinson will not attend LMU. Garribay will be in question, and some of the young potential studs we have on our team this year who were recruited by Bayno will likely split as well. With a promising year ahead (if Bayno returns) season ticket sales will be blasting through the roof next year. As much as we all love our lions, the fact of the matter is the consumer buys the product. The administration is toying with all of us if they expect people to purchase season tickets for next year if half of the current team and incoming recruits will not be there. Basketball for many students is one of the most if not the most exciting extracurricular activity here at LMU. A man that LMU as an institution has invested some serious cash in is not earning his dollar by coaching the team. At least tell us what the deal is and if he will be returning anytime soon. BECAUSE I GUARANTEE YOU BAYNO AND HUSAK (WHY IS HE STILL HERE?) KNOW WHETHER OR NOT HE WILL BE RETURNING TO LMU.

Well said. All my posts have expressed similar thoughts. Husak is all the answers and he is "mmmmm the word." If this "condition" did not relate to the past, I think the press release should have specifically stated so. The national media, being very very kind to the situation and taking it at face value, reports the medical condition but always mentions that Bayno has had his trouble in the past. If I was PR guy for Husak, I would have simply stated exhaustion, stress, anxiety attacks have created a medical health condition that has forced Bayno to take a leave of absence. Instead, we get a general press release that leads to speculation.

Bottomline is that Husak knows the future of LMU basketball. Husak knows if Bayno is coming back or not. Husak is sitting on the biggest egg in LMU sports in the last 20 years.

As a season ticket holder, I find my excitement level for Saturday's homecoming game is just an interim state--purgatory, if you will. If I as a fan feel like this, I cannot imagine what our players feel like. Are we going to heaven (with a Bayno return) or we burning longer (Bayno decides to leave the head coaching ranks)?

I will say if Bayno does not return, you will have 90% of donors to LMU Athletics will be highly, highly dissapointed. Season tickets sales will have its biggest drop. Not to mention, year over year donations will drop like a rock.

[lionspride]

Sounds like Max Good (one of the closest friends of Bayno), does not know if Bayno will return this year. Interesting. Max seems to be opening his mouth more and more about the situation. Seems like we will get more out of Max in the future about the situation. I think we are in limbo until January 3. How low can you go? In the limbo that is?

www.azstarnet.com/sports/269735