Louisville has fired Rick Pitino
Louisville (likely interim president Greg Postel) asked athletic director Tom Jurich to fire head coach Rick Pitino as a result of college basketball’s on-going and widespread bribery scandal. When he refused, both Jurich and Pitino were relieved of their duties by the university.
This is major news and it’s hard to imagine that this is anything more than the tippy top of the iceberg in regard to what’s coming throughout the NCAA.
The school will hold a news conference at 10AM PT / 1PM ET to address the situation.
This comes a day after federal prosecutors in New York filed charges of fraud and corruption against ten people involved in college basketball, including four current assistant coaches — Auburn’s Chuck Person, Arizona’s Emanuel “Book” Richardson, Oklahoma State’s Lamont Evans, and USC’s Tony Bland.
The federal probe centered around coaches being paid thousands of dollars to direct NBA-caliber players to specific agents and shoe/clothing companies.
Late night, Pitino released a statement pleading ignorance, while alleging that these violations “come as a complete shock to me”.
“If true, I agree with the U.S. Attorneys Office that these third-party schemes, initiated by a few bad actors, operated to commit a fraud on the impacted universities and their basketball programs, including the University of Louisville,” Pitino said in his statement. “Our fans and supporters deserve better and I am committed to taking whatever steps are needed to ensure those responsible are held accountable.”
The filing alleges that at least one coach, who coaches at a “public research university located in Kentucky” (Louisville), of taking part in a scheme to send $100,000 from Adidas to an All-America high school player (almost certainly Brian Bowen) who Louisville was recruiting.
Louisville University is already on probation for previous NCAA violations.
By NCAA rules, Louisville would be eligible for the death penalty.
