Just when you’ve think you’ve heard every Rick Pitino scandal there is, the Louisville beat is there to remind you there’s more dirt.
It appeared as if Pitino had gotten nothing more than a slap on the wrist when he received a five-game suspension for the upcoming season. That punishment came after the news broke that a former director of basketball operations had been providing exotic dancers and prostitutes to players and recruits for several years. Since then, Pitino’s career has had a domino effect.
In October of 2014 in an interview with Campus Insiders’ Seth Davis, Pitino called for shoe companies to be less influential in the recruiting process. However, he said it was a difficult issue to address considering his “pockets are lined with shoe money.”
Fans never knew the extent of that comment until now.
A week after being suspended indefinitely because of his involvement in a federal bribery scandal, a new development has reached the surface. The Courier-Journal reported that the Cardinal coach has been receiving 98 percent of the money from Louisville’s current deal with Adidas.
This a deal that former Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich claimed was for the department and the student athletes.
“It’s for the athletic department,” Jurich said. “It’s for these student-athletes. It’s been earmarked for them.”
Not so much.
The report claims that Pitino raked in $3 million over a two-year span, while the athletic department only received $35,000. Over the past five years, he has taken home roughly $38 million just off of the Adidas deal, per the report.
The current contract expires July 1.
Many are questioning how much money Louisville coaches will receive from the new Adidas contract, which is worth $79 million over 10 years. Seeing that Louisville is currently under investigation for reportedly funneling $100,000 to a recruit through Adidas, the future of the partnership is drenched with uncertainty.