COLONIE — Embattled Siena men's basketball coach Jimmy Patsos on Friday denied abusing a team manager, and said he had no knowledge of irregularities in the payment of per diems to players.

His remarks at a press conference at his lawyer's offices on Wolf Road seemed to dispel — at least for now — the possibility that Patsos would resign from the program.

"It's not me — I'm a generous, giving guy," said Patsos, who appeared with three current or former team managers in a characteristically wide-ranging and often emotional performance. " ... I'm a lover. Sometimes you love too much."

Patsos did acknowledge engaging in what he characterized as routine teasing.

Patsos came under fire after the Times Union broke the news that the college was investigating the coach for allegedly mistreating a team student-manager by subjecting him over the course of the past season to ridicule about his obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety issues.

It was later revealed that Siena's probe into Patsos' conduct extended to whether Patsos or other coaches improperly withheld per diem payments from players and team aides.

Patsos denied knowing anything about potential impropriety in the payment of per diems, saying that the process was handled by his assistant coaches.

"At this point, he's still on the payroll at Siena," Patsos' attorney, Richard P. Walsh, told the Times Union on Friday morning. "Hopefully, he'll remain there."

At the press conference, Walsh said it was unclear whether any charges would be brought against Patsos, though he said resolution on that question could come in the next month.

If charges are brought, Walsh said, "We are going to defend against them."

The attorney added that Patsos' legal team has not, at Siena's request, spoken with the alleged abuse victim or others since the complaints surfaced. "We have not been allowed to talk to any witnesses," he said.

The investigation was launched by Siena’s Title IX coordinator in February when the student manager filed a complaint with the school accusing Patsos of calling him "insane" and referring to him as "the Unabomber."

Later, the school brought in the Syracuse-based law firm Bond, Schoeneck and King, which has a specialized practice group focused on college athletics, to conduct a deeper investigation. Its efforts expanded to include a probe into the per diem payments.

One student interviewed by investigators was shown roughly 10 per diem vouchers that apparently included his forged signature, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The cash payments ranged from $40 to $380, but the student manager had not received most of the payments, and only $100 from a voucher that indicated he had received $380, the sources said.

According to a person familiar with the team’s operations, the payment of per diems was handled by director of basketball operations Pete Durr or, when he was unavailable, an assistant coach — though Patsos controlled whether a sum would be paid or withheld.

The Patsos investigation comes less than two months after John D’Argenio, the school’s athletic director, said in February the school was committed to keeping Patsos. According to the Internal Revenue Service Form 990 filed by Siena in 2015 — the most recent year for which data was available — Patsos’ base salary for that calendar year was $399,393. He had three years left on his coaching contract.

Siena spokeswoman Lisa Witkowski declined further comment, saying the investigation will continue.

Patsos, who has a career record of 222-227 in 14 seasons as a Division I head coach, took the reins of the Siena basketball program in 2013, and led the Saints in his first season to a 20-18 record and a College Basketball Invitational title. His 2015-16 team posted a 21-13 record, and his 2016-2017 team fell to Iona 87-86 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament final.

The Saints’ on-court performance went south in the most recent season, with the Saints going 8-24 —the worst record in Patsos' five-year tenure as head coach and the same outcome posted by Mitch Buonaguro, Patsos' predecessor, in his final season at Siena. Patsos' overall record at Siena is 77-92.

Prior to coaching at Siena, Patsos was the head coach at Loyola (Maryland) after a long stint as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland. He earned 2012 MAAC Coach of the Year honors when his Loyola team captured the conference tournament title.

Several supporters of Patsos stood with him during the brief conference at Walsh's office.

"He's like a father to me," said Rob Sherlock, a 2017 Siena graduate from Amsterdam who was a team manager. "He's a people person."

Mark Singelais contributed to this report.