Pacers assistant resigns citing personal, health concerns

Mon, Feb 8, 2021
AP Sports

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana Pacers assistant coach Bill Bayno resigned Monday, citing personal and health reasons.

The 58-year-old Bayno was hired by former coach Nate McMillan in 2016 and was kept on staff by new coach Nate Bjorkgren following McMillan's firing last summer.

"I appreciate the impact coach Bayno has had on our players and the Pacers organization over the last five years," Bjorkgren said in a statement released by the team. "All of us at the Pacers wish him the very best as he transitions to his next chapter."

Bayno recently took a leave of absence, telling The Indianapolis Star he was struggling with the recent deaths of both his parents as well as issues involving the recent social unrest.

The midseason resignation is the latest twist in a Pacers season that already has included the prolonged absence of T.J. Warren, last season's leading scorer, because of foot surgery, the trade of two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo to Houston and the subsequent diagnosis of a cancerous growth on the liver of Caris LeVert, who was acquired in the deal. LeVert still has not played and the Pacers have not announced a timetable for his return.

Bayno, a longtime NBA assistant, also worked on McMillan's staff with the Portland Trail Blazers from 2009-11. Kevin Pritchard first hired Bayno as an assistant when he took over as Portland's interim coach in 2005. Pritchard is now the Pacers president of basketball operations.

Bayno also spent time with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors, worked in the now defunct Continental Basketball Association, the American Basketball Association and the Philippine Basketball Association and made college stops at Seton Hall, Kansas, Massachusetts and Baptist College, which was later renamed Charleston Southern.

Bayno also went 94-63 in six seasons as head coach at UNLV and Loyola Marymount, though he coached only three games with Loyola Marymount before resigning in January 2009 citing health reasons.