We probably shouldn't have been surprised that Rick Pitino's Hall of Fame career would end like this. He hasn't officially been fired by Louisville yet, but that's only because it says in his contract that they have to wait 10 days. But by this time next week, he'll be the Cardinals' former head coach. And, frankly, they didn't have a choice.
This is the third major scandal Louisville has been involved in since Pitino took over, and it's by far the most serious. Even if it was his first violation, it likely would've resulted in the same ending. The first two were bad enough, but even Rick Pitino wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of this one. There's no way he could've claimed he didn't know, and even if he had, no one would've believed him.
Normally, you'd wait and let things play out, using the term "if these allegations are true..." until the facts came out. But in this case, I think it's pretty clear cut what was going on. A two-year federal investigation that leads to multiple arrests, including coaches at four different schools, is pretty damning evidence. This is the biggest scandal in college basketball since at least the Baylor situation in the mid-2000s, although this one is on a much larger scale.
The college basketball world was rocked by this news, which, frankly, wasn't entirely shocking. With the amount of money that goes into major college basketball, something like this was inevitable. That doesn't make it any less bad. You can debate the merits of the NCAA's "amateurism" rules all you want. That's not even remotely close to the point here. The point is you know that the No. 1 rule is you can't pay players, and that rule was deliberately broken over and over again. When SMU's football program was found guilty of doing the same thing in the mid-80s, they were banned from competition for two years.
In a radio interview this afternoon, Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer made his stance on the issue abundantly clear. He said that if you're found intentionally committing violations and lie about it, your career is done. I've gotta say, that sounds pretty good. You're probably not gonna stop programs from trying to circumvent the rules, but that's quite a deterrent if you get caught.
Either way, Rick Pitino's career is likely over. He had a remarkable record at Louisville, but all that success on the court will be overshadowed by the way it all ended. First there was the extortion case, where he admitted to sleeping with the woman and giving her money for an abortion. Then there was the sex parties organized by an assistant coach for players and recruits. Pitino managed to pass off the blame on that one and keep is job, but can anyone really believe he didn't know what was going on?
Now there's the most serious violation of them all. Louisville was not cited by name in the federal complaint, but it was later confirmed that it was, indeed, the university referenced. The capper was the $100,000 bribe to secure an elite prospect would sign with the Cardinals, which he did a few days after the payment was made. It's also been confirmed that the "Coach 2" referred to in the federal complaint is, in fact, Rick Pitino. Which makes you wonder if anything he's done at Louisville was on the up-and-up.
It was quite a run Louisville had under Pitino, too. He was brought in to revive a once-proud program, and he sure did. Louisville was brought in as a replacement after the first round of Big East defections and went on to dominate the league so much that it led to an ACC invite. That run included three Final Four appearances, making Pitino the first coach to take three different schools to the Final Four, and the National Championship in 2013, making him the first to win national titles at two different schools.
But...there were also the NCAA violations, which led to Louisville sitting out the 2016 NCAA Tournament as part of a self-imposed penalty. They thought that would be enough to satisfy the NCAA, but they'll likely have to vacate wins, possibly including the 2013 title, as a result of the sex-party investigation.
For years, Rick Pitino was considered above reproach. It turns out, that was all a fraud. One of the greatest coaching talents in history won't be remembered for all of his wins and all of his records during a Hall of Fame career. Instead his legacy will be that of a serial rules violator. A guy who tried so hard to get ahead that he was willing to do whatever it took. Whether or not it was within the rules didn't matter.
And, here's the sad part: he didn't need to. Yet he did. And now his legacy is forever tarnished.
Pitino wasn't the only coach involved in this scandal. He wasn't even arrested. But he was by far the biggest name, and Louisville was by far the biggest program. As a result, he took the biggest fall. Which, frankly, is probably what he deserved.
Any other coach likely would've been fired after either of those previous scandals. But Rick Pitino survived by passing off blame and using plausible deniability. Well, he could only fool us for so long. This probably wasn't his first NCAA violation, but it was his last. "Beyond reproach?" Hardly.
No comments:
Post a Comment