Nate McMillan Adds Assistant Coach Bill Bayno, Pacers Hire David McClure for Player Development

Bill Bayno and David McClure are the latest additions to Nate McMillan’s staff.

After Nate McMillan announced both Dan Burke and Popeye Jones were remaining as assistant coaches, the only question was who would be the third assistant?

We now have the answer.

The Indianapolis Star‘s Nate Taylor reported earlier today that Bill Bayno will be joining the coaching staff as an assistant while David McClure will be a player development coach.

So what do we know about these two? Let’s start with the 54-year-old Bayno.

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After a playing career with UMass and Sacred Heart, Bayno signed with the New York Knicks for their rookie camp in 1985, but ultimately didn’t make the team.

But that connection with the NBA was far from being his last. Head coach P.J. Carlesimo brought him in as an assistant at Seton Hall in 1985, beginning a coaching career that also took him to Kansas, Baptists College, and UMass before he finally got his first head coaching job at UNLV. He amassed a 91-60 (.603) record with the Rebels, but despite denying any wrong-doing, he was fired in 2000 when the program was sanctioned for recruiting violations linked to Lamar Odom.

From there, he bounced around a few international leagues before ending up with Nate McMillan and the Portland Trail Blazers. He would also be part of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors coaching staffs before being reunited with McMillan and general manager Kevin Pritchard today.

According to IndyCornrows, Bayno was most recently the coaching director at the Adidas EUROCAMP.

"Most recently, Bayno, 54, acted as coaching director at Adidas EUROCAMP, the only sanctioned international pre-NBA draft camp. Known for his development work with big men, he also ran drills with Kings draft pick Skal Labissiere at IMG Academy. Similar training will undoubtedly benefit Myles Turner, whose development will need to be hastened if he is going to anchor Indiana’s defense beside Thaddeus Young next season."

Apparently, McMillan had Bayno on his radar since late May.

The only other thing of note in a quick Google search of Bayno is he has struggled with alcoholism, according to a story from the Associated Press.

"He was fired the next season after a booster was charged with giving money to Lamar Odom, who never played a game for the Rebels. Bayno sought counseling, but said he was not able to stop drinking completely until May 25, 2002. It took him three years of wandering before he got a second chance from the Portland Trail Blazers executive and coach Kevin Pritchard, who was a point guard at Kansas when Bayno coached there.“I knew a lot of people, but I also built up a reputation where people were probably afraid to hire me,” Bayno said.The Blazers gig eventually opened up one more run at head coaching with Loyola Marymount in 2008, but the severe anxiety returned with the greater responsibility, and he left after just three games.“People thought I fell off the wagon, but I didn’t,” he said. “The fact that I wasn’t drinking made me quit Loyola sooner than I would have otherwise. Without the booze, the insomnia was 10 times worse. And that led to anxiety. Head coaching was my trigger, but I never knew what it was.”Portland brought him right back, and he stayed there until getting a four-year deal to join Rick Adelman in Minnesota in 2011. He had been a fresh face on a staff that has, for the most part, been together a very long time."

It is good to see Bayno turned the page on that struggle as over a decade of being sober can attest.

David McClure, a former Duke Blue Devil, is just getting started in his professional career coaching, but he spent the last two years with the San Antonio Spurs according to Pacers.com.

"The 30-year-old McClure played collegiately at Duke from 2005-09. He played professionally in the D-League for one season and four years in Lithuania. He has spent the last two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs in player development."

For some basketball fans, it might be easier to remember him hitting a game-winning shot against Clemson in January of 2007.

Bayno, in particular, will bring the Pacers a wealth of experience from the NCAA, international, and NBA levels. McClure may be young, but anyone coming from the San Antonio Spurs organization has to be doing something right.

Next: 8p9s Roundtable: A Very Different Indiana Pacers

With some familiar faces on McMillan’s coaching staff and new offensive talent coming in for the Pacers, fans should be looking forward to a more productive offensive attack this season.