Conducted last night.
Sports Illustrated: How did you find out the school was issuing this postseason ban?
Rick Pitino: I was in my office on Thursday. Tom Jurich, [outside investigative counsel] Chuck Smrt and [sports information director] Kenny Klein came to see me. I thought maybe they wanted to ask me a few questions. I didn’t think the news would be this bad. The problem is they couldn’t tell me anything. They said, “We’ve got information that is going to lead us to make a decision to put a postseason ban on this team.” I just put my head into my hands. I asked, “When did this come about?” Chuck Smrt interrupted and said, “You haven’t been interviewed yet, so we can’t tell you anything.”
SI: Fair to say you were shocked?
RP: I was shocked because while it was always something that was hovering, I’ve been gearing our team up for the NCAA tournament, talking about what we have to do to get a high seed. Every day, I was telling them a different story about the tournament. So the worst part was when I had to face the team. I met with Trey [Lewis] and Damion [Lee] at noon on Friday and the rest of the team at 12:30.
Photo: Timothy D. Easley/AP
SI: It sounds like from your comments over the weekend that you disagree with this decision. Do you?
RP: I don’t disagree with anything that Tom Jurich does. I called him the next morning and said, “Tom, are we sure we want to do this? Do we want to take some time and think about it?” He said, “I know how down you are about this, but we’ve got to do it.” The mistake they made was they didn’t have him on the committee. That was a very, very substantial mistake because this would have happened weeks ago. Because once Tom was informed of something, he would not sweep it under the carpet. He has to address it. He corrects things right away.
SI: You said in your press conference after Saturday’s win over Boston College that you did not believe postseason bans were fair. Why do you feel that way?
College Basketball
Video
Rick Pitino: Louisville should be fined, not banned
by SI Wire
RP: The system is broken, there’s no question about it. Now, if this team were responsible for this, then they don’t deserve to play in the tournament. But if you’re on Wall Street and your corporation does something wrong, the SEC comes in and fines you. My opinion is the school should be fined $10 million. They shouldn’t be allowed to collect any money from the tournament. The coach should have to take a hit in his salary, 20% or 50% or whatever. The kids should not be penalized, but Tom has no choice. He has to comply.
SI: Wouldn’t it be more fair to the current players to put the postseason ban in place for 2017? That way the seniors could play this year, and the younger players could transfer if they want.
RP: I don’t make that decision. Tom has to go by the rules. When he knew about the violation, he couldn’t say, “We’re not going to jail now, we’re going in six months.” This is what the NCAA wants every university to do. They don’t want you to take the penalty down the road.
SI: So as of now, you do not know the information they found that led to this decision?
RP: No. I don’t know and they won’t let me know. They’ve kept me in the dark on everything.
SI: Do you know when the school committee plans to interview you?
RP: I haven’t been notified yet, but it will be soon. I really can’t shed too much light on anything, but I’m looking forward to talking to them.
SI: When the book first came out, you cast a lot of doubt on whether Katina Powell’s story was true. Is it right to conclude based on this decision that at least some of the events she described in her book did take place?
RP: I didn’t read the book, but I know that Eric Crawford [a reporter at WDRB 41 in Louisville] found out a lot of inaccuracies. He took it chapter by chapter and page by page and put holes in the book. So I don’t know what the book said, but I know 11 women are suing her for saying they did this.
SI: You have [said] from the beginning that if anything like this was going on, you knew nothing about it. Frankly, there are lot of people who believe that either you knew or you didn’t want to know, but either way you are responsible because you created a culture which allowed these things to happen. What’s your response to that?
RP: First of all, I don’t believe there’s one coach that ever coached college basketball at this level that would ever tolerate it for one second. Forget me, I’m talking about any coach who has ever coached.
The reason that I didn’t know was everybody had so much fear of what would happen if I ever found out. That’s why they were sneaking in through a side door. They all know their jobs, their scholarships would have been pulled if I ever found out.
College Basketball
Video
Louisville’s postseason ban callously snatches dream from Lee, Lewis
by Brian Hamilton
The second thing is, this took place in a dormitory that I built in my brother-in-law’s name in honor of his legacy after [he was killed on] 9/11. I wouldn’t let anybody break a chair in that place without coming down hard on them. If the media were to interview any of my former players from Kentucky, anybody from Providence, anybody from BU, they will tell you I am a stickler with the rules.
But I will tell you, I do understand this thinking because I had the same reaction at first. Immediately I started accusing people from managers to everybody else, “How could you not know? You never saw anything? This is impossible.” So I did the same thing. And their answer was, she’s saying this happened maybe 20 times over four years, so that’s four or five times a year behind closed doors. How the hell are we gonna know about that?
Andre McGee knew that if I ever found out, he would be on the next plane out of Louisville.
SI: So why would he do it—assuming he did it?
read on: http://www.si.com/college-basketbal...ville-cardinals-escort-scandal-postseason-ban
Sports Illustrated: How did you find out the school was issuing this postseason ban?
Rick Pitino: I was in my office on Thursday. Tom Jurich, [outside investigative counsel] Chuck Smrt and [sports information director] Kenny Klein came to see me. I thought maybe they wanted to ask me a few questions. I didn’t think the news would be this bad. The problem is they couldn’t tell me anything. They said, “We’ve got information that is going to lead us to make a decision to put a postseason ban on this team.” I just put my head into my hands. I asked, “When did this come about?” Chuck Smrt interrupted and said, “You haven’t been interviewed yet, so we can’t tell you anything.”
SI: Fair to say you were shocked?
RP: I was shocked because while it was always something that was hovering, I’ve been gearing our team up for the NCAA tournament, talking about what we have to do to get a high seed. Every day, I was telling them a different story about the tournament. So the worst part was when I had to face the team. I met with Trey [Lewis] and Damion [Lee] at noon on Friday and the rest of the team at 12:30.
Photo: Timothy D. Easley/AP
SI: It sounds like from your comments over the weekend that you disagree with this decision. Do you?
RP: I don’t disagree with anything that Tom Jurich does. I called him the next morning and said, “Tom, are we sure we want to do this? Do we want to take some time and think about it?” He said, “I know how down you are about this, but we’ve got to do it.” The mistake they made was they didn’t have him on the committee. That was a very, very substantial mistake because this would have happened weeks ago. Because once Tom was informed of something, he would not sweep it under the carpet. He has to address it. He corrects things right away.
SI: You said in your press conference after Saturday’s win over Boston College that you did not believe postseason bans were fair. Why do you feel that way?
College Basketball
Video
Rick Pitino: Louisville should be fined, not banned
by SI Wire
RP: The system is broken, there’s no question about it. Now, if this team were responsible for this, then they don’t deserve to play in the tournament. But if you’re on Wall Street and your corporation does something wrong, the SEC comes in and fines you. My opinion is the school should be fined $10 million. They shouldn’t be allowed to collect any money from the tournament. The coach should have to take a hit in his salary, 20% or 50% or whatever. The kids should not be penalized, but Tom has no choice. He has to comply.
SI: Wouldn’t it be more fair to the current players to put the postseason ban in place for 2017? That way the seniors could play this year, and the younger players could transfer if they want.
RP: I don’t make that decision. Tom has to go by the rules. When he knew about the violation, he couldn’t say, “We’re not going to jail now, we’re going in six months.” This is what the NCAA wants every university to do. They don’t want you to take the penalty down the road.
SI: So as of now, you do not know the information they found that led to this decision?
RP: No. I don’t know and they won’t let me know. They’ve kept me in the dark on everything.
SI: Do you know when the school committee plans to interview you?
RP: I haven’t been notified yet, but it will be soon. I really can’t shed too much light on anything, but I’m looking forward to talking to them.
SI: When the book first came out, you cast a lot of doubt on whether Katina Powell’s story was true. Is it right to conclude based on this decision that at least some of the events she described in her book did take place?
RP: I didn’t read the book, but I know that Eric Crawford [a reporter at WDRB 41 in Louisville] found out a lot of inaccuracies. He took it chapter by chapter and page by page and put holes in the book. So I don’t know what the book said, but I know 11 women are suing her for saying they did this.
SI: You have [said] from the beginning that if anything like this was going on, you knew nothing about it. Frankly, there are lot of people who believe that either you knew or you didn’t want to know, but either way you are responsible because you created a culture which allowed these things to happen. What’s your response to that?
RP: First of all, I don’t believe there’s one coach that ever coached college basketball at this level that would ever tolerate it for one second. Forget me, I’m talking about any coach who has ever coached.
The reason that I didn’t know was everybody had so much fear of what would happen if I ever found out. That’s why they were sneaking in through a side door. They all know their jobs, their scholarships would have been pulled if I ever found out.
College Basketball
Video
Louisville’s postseason ban callously snatches dream from Lee, Lewis
by Brian Hamilton
The second thing is, this took place in a dormitory that I built in my brother-in-law’s name in honor of his legacy after [he was killed on] 9/11. I wouldn’t let anybody break a chair in that place without coming down hard on them. If the media were to interview any of my former players from Kentucky, anybody from Providence, anybody from BU, they will tell you I am a stickler with the rules.
But I will tell you, I do understand this thinking because I had the same reaction at first. Immediately I started accusing people from managers to everybody else, “How could you not know? You never saw anything? This is impossible.” So I did the same thing. And their answer was, she’s saying this happened maybe 20 times over four years, so that’s four or five times a year behind closed doors. How the hell are we gonna know about that?
Andre McGee knew that if I ever found out, he would be on the next plane out of Louisville.
SI: So why would he do it—assuming he did it?
read on: http://www.si.com/college-basketbal...ville-cardinals-escort-scandal-postseason-ban
