"Bill came out of retirement to help out and ended up staying longer than expected but he seems to have done a credible job," said one industry source who had been close to Silver State negotiations last year and who asked for anonymity.

Silver State issued an official statement Thursday quoting Rhamy on Silver State's progress in trimming its 2010 losses from the $50 million in red ink during 2009 but has been mum on management operations. ASI officials in Columbus have referred calls on Silver State operations to Rhamy who has declined to return phone calls.

In its statement Thursday, Rhamy insisted "Silver State Schools is on the road to recovery, even during these difficult economic times and the stabilization of loan delinquency rates and loan charge-offs" has occurred. "The quarterly trend of rate of loss has steadily improved over the past six quarters since mid-2009 and in fact, for the first two months of 2011, the credit union is showing marginal profitability."'

"Loan demand remains historically low but the pace of job losses and home-value declines appear to be slowing," he concluded. "With little room to grow in a difficult economy, the credit union focused this past year on curtailing costs and reducing operating expenses by $5.0 million or 13.3% in 2010 from the year prior."