University of North Carolina brought in just under ten million dollars after winning the NCAA tournament this last year. At the start of spring games not only did their ticket sales sky rocket but also sales in merchandise. More sponsors jumped on the bandwagon that donated a lot of money for the Tar Heels. Rick Pitino and the Cardinals got knocked out pretty early in the tournament and they came back into spring ball with less income than the other top teams in the nation. For some reason though, they always come up with some big name players. The game is turning into a business and the head coaches are the owners. People wonder how Pitino continues to get top recruits from all over the country over other big time programs like Duke, Kentucky, and UNC. It is important to understand what caused Pitino to get fired and how he was pressured into these situations. On another note you have to look at what the NCAA will do about it and overall what Louisville and how the Federal Court was brought in. Besides all these distractions and mis behaviors it’s important to look at what happen to Pitino at the end of all this. We will first jump into how Pitino got himself in this mess.

Of course every coach in the Nation wants the number one recruit, but not every coach would do anything to have them come to their school. Rick Cavaiani, a baseball scout for the Milwaukee Panthers said that “If the panthers would fund the money I would without ease give any recruit of mine the money needed to come to my school.” He also explained how competitive the recruiting game really is and how one player can make or break a whole program. Pitino has had a rough past with offering small amount of cash and other merchandise under the table to big recruits but this one pushed Rick off the edge. According to Rickey O’Donnell “Pitino offered all american shooting guard Brian Bowen $100,000 and a place for his mother to stay if he committed to Louisville.” That next week Bowen was headed up to Louisville with his mother by his side and there meet him NCAA advisers and witnesses on the case. Pitino is known for pulling just about every trick in the books when it comes to getting around these rules. Pitino was caught prior to this incident by using a third party to get his “Gifts” to his recruits. Pitino and Adidas made a deal that would supply two high school recruits with all the adidas gear they wanted. This is what brought the federal court into play, and they are still under investigation for their actions. Not only has Pitino been fired by Louisville for his inability to follow NCAA rules, He has also been caught doing inappropriate things like having a sex scandal after a big road win. Which means he fund prostitutes for his players and some recruits that were traveling with them. This is very important because it shows that he doesn’t have many good attentions and shows the athletes very inappropriate behavior we’ll having all this fame. A hall of fame coach should understand there’s always eyes on him, and the pressure just built up too much for Pitino.

A multi million dollar campus, arena, and team doesn’t mean anything unless the team wins and brings home championships. Pitino is famous for that, winning just under 75% of his games and winning two national championship. His number just show a hall of fame coach but his ability to follow rules are going to come back to haunt him. In order to keep your head coach jobs means you have to continue to get wins and tournament appearances. You can’t just win championships with a bunch of no namers so Pitino was always put under the pressure of securing the deal with a big recruit. Documents were found and according to Chuck Culpepper “Coach 2 agrees to support recruit 10 and any of his needs during his time at Louisville.” Pitino and his coaching staff used code name for his players to keep things low key and away from the NCAA. Rick was report to much just under 7.8 million dollars to coach the cardinals for the 2017-2018 season and was project to be a three seed in the NCAA tournament. Predictions are just guessing but numbers don’t lie. Louisville’s numbers for attendance went way up after they added to the KFC Center over the offseason and his salary increases including bonus for his other employees. The team was also looking forward to a renovated locker room and practice court and weights, but Pitino had one job. To bring in the best basketball players in the country.

“Pitino was released as Louisville head coach late last night and is put on unpaid administrative”(Medcalf). This news rushed all over the sports world the next morning. The question still remains what will Louisville, the NCAA, and the federal court do with Pitino. Looking at how he’s unemployed right now, Louisville took the first move by firing him and completely cutting him off of all connections. Which meant they had to fire there A.D. According to Marc Tracy an ESPN reporter says “Tom Jurich put on unpaid administrative after agreeing with Pitino’s actions and keeping connection with him.” This is important because Louisville isn’t backing up Pitino in any way. He has nothing to do with the university anymore and is now fighting on his own. The NCAA had put Pitino on the watch list for breaking recruiting rules and is also suspended for the beginning of the year if he signs with another team. This shows that he’s not going to be able just restart with another team and if he does get with another team he’s going to miss some of their season and there’s no way hes going to get by with cheating anymore. Then there’s the mystery of the case. What will the federal court do with him?

Pitino’s worst enemy was the next rule he was going to break.“Pitino never agreed with the rules, and he showed in his actions of breaking them”(Williams). Pitino has gotten himself in a huge mess. He is under investigation for offering several players and family member thousands and thousands of dollars. He is also under investigation for having a shoe and apparel deal with adidas which Pitino pocketed over 1.5 million dollars in this deal. As of right now there is no team in the league that would waste any time trying to re hire him. Now without any money and no place to coach. This hall of fame coach in going to have to hang up the whistle and erase the chalkboard because no one sees him coming back into the league to coach. Pitino is on trial right now to be charged with money laundering to his recruits and made adidas do it to other athletes. All the money and all the fame just went to his head, never understood when he crossed the line. He will forever regret his decision now with no job and his reputation ruined.

How will the game be forever changed? The recruiting process with recruits are changed every year. More, and more rules are applied every year and who knows what’s going to happen when all of this gets figured out. It’s very critical to understand why Pitino got fired and what he did the embarrass the city of Louisville. His belief of always being pressured to be the best and his ability to sneak past the rules. The steps that his school and organization made to get him out of there, and finally what going to happen to him now.  If your looking for more information and articles to read go to ESPN.com or WashingtonPost.com for everything your looking for the case is still under investigation, but keep an eye out if Rick Pitino will ever coach again. This game is turning into a business, and only the meanest and the richest survive.

Works Cited

Culpepper, Chuck, and Matt Bonesteel. “Rick Pitino’s Ouster Leaves Louisville Dazed from

Scandal Fatigue.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 27 Sept. 2017. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.

Medcalf, Myron. “Rick Pitino’s Reputation.” ESPN.com. ESPN, 15 Oct. 2017. Web.

Williams, Jon. “Report: Pitino Says He Paid for Abortion.” ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 12

Aug. 2009. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.