CRAWFORD | Takeaways from Rick Pitino's new memoir
Five takeaways from Rick Pitino's new book, released on Tuesday.
Tuesday, September 4th 2018, 9:22 am EDT by Eric Crawford
Updated:
Tuesday, September 4th 2018, 9:22 am EDT
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Rick Pitino’s new memoir, “My Story,” is on the shelves. I know, because that’s where I had to obtain it.
I spent some of the night blowing through it, in order to answer the question: What’s in there?
In journalism, we have a term called “nut graph.” It’s a paragraph somewhere high up in the story that summarizes why you’re writing it, and what your point is. Your piece in “a nutshell.” I don’t know if this paragraph in Pitino’s book qualifies, but it certainly gets at the heart of why the book was written.
“To outsiders looking in, I can see how I might easily appear to be a villain,” Pitino writes. “Only two years earlier, my program became embroiled in a tawdry scandal when one of my assistants, acting completely on his own, hired strippers and prostitutes to perform for recruits. Now, with the US Attorney’s complaint, I was “caught”—totally tangentially—in a second recruiting debacle. If I only read the headlines, I would think I was a bad guy, too.”
It's the one passage from Pitino that seems to grasp his public predicament now, and to put himself into the shoes of the public. And it is followed, just a bit later, by this statement: “My story is complicated and crazy.”
That, I would say, is undeniable. In his foreword, Jeff Van Gundy writes: “I will always be grateful and indebted to Coach Pitino for giving me a chance to pursue my dreams in coaching. Now I urge you to give Coach Pitino the same chance he gave me many years ago. Read his story and decide for yourself.”
I read his story, though there was little need. I wrote his previous book with him. I’ve followed every public statement he’s given since these events. There are some new details about old events. I'm not sure I'd classify anything as a "bombshell."
Here are five takeaways, from someone who has attempted to write sincerely about Pitino’s life and career:
1). IT GOES WAY BACK. Pitino takes a while to build to the present day. There are lengthy chapters on his life in basketball, going all the way back to Harold Garfinkel’s Five-Star Camps. There are discussions of his days at Boston University, Providence, the New York Knicks, Kentucky and the Boston Celtics. But early on, he drops this bit of foreshadowing on taking the job at Louisville.
He says Tom Jurich sent a Citation 10 jet, “an extremely fast plane,” to get Pitino for his introductory press conference, wanting to get Pitino introduced as Louisville coach “before I had time to reconsider.”
The plane belonged to John Schnatter.
“In the years to come,” Pitino writes, “I would find out a lot ore about John Schnatter. . . . Let me just say that knowing what I know today about him, including the fact that he would be instrumental in getting me fired, I would’ve jumped on a bus, taken a train, or walked rather than stepped on his plane.”
2). FINDING OUT ABOUT SCANDALS. Pitino describes how he found out about both the stripper-prostitution allegations and the FBI adidas recruiting investigation.
Of the stripper scandal, Pitino said he learned via phone from sports information director Kenny Klein, who called him after a Puerto Rican National Team loss to Brazil. This was in late July of 2015.
His description of the FBI revelations is more dramatic. He said he was taping a podcast for former Yum! Brands CEO David Novak when his executive assistant, Jordan Sucher, came into the room and asked that they end their interview, that there was trouble. From there, Pitino was told that the FBI had already intercepted two of his assistants and interviewed them, and within an hour, were there to interview Pitino, who spoke to them with no attorney present.
“Coach, we have to end this,” Jordan said. “There’s a major problem.”
I was surprised by the urgency in Jordan’s voice. I think David was, too, because when I turned to apologize for abruptly ending our talk, he was ready to leave: “We’ve got enough here for the podcast. Don’t worry about it.”
Jordan directed me to our conference room. Kenny Klein, our director for media relations, and
John Carns, our compliance director, were there. Everyone looked grim.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked.
“They picked up two of your assistant coaches,” Kenny said.
“Who’s they?”
“The FBI.”
“The FBI? What are you talking about?”
“The FBI picked up Kenny Johnson in the parking lot right outside. And they picked up Jordan Fair at the airport.”
I was still totally in the dark. “What’s this about? Why did they get picked up?”
“Some type of sting operation.”
Five takeaways from Rick Pitino's new book, released on Tuesday.
Tuesday, September 4th 2018, 9:22 am EDT by Eric Crawford
Updated:
Tuesday, September 4th 2018, 9:22 am EDT
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Rick Pitino’s new memoir, “My Story,” is on the shelves. I know, because that’s where I had to obtain it.
I spent some of the night blowing through it, in order to answer the question: What’s in there?
In journalism, we have a term called “nut graph.” It’s a paragraph somewhere high up in the story that summarizes why you’re writing it, and what your point is. Your piece in “a nutshell.” I don’t know if this paragraph in Pitino’s book qualifies, but it certainly gets at the heart of why the book was written.
“To outsiders looking in, I can see how I might easily appear to be a villain,” Pitino writes. “Only two years earlier, my program became embroiled in a tawdry scandal when one of my assistants, acting completely on his own, hired strippers and prostitutes to perform for recruits. Now, with the US Attorney’s complaint, I was “caught”—totally tangentially—in a second recruiting debacle. If I only read the headlines, I would think I was a bad guy, too.”
It's the one passage from Pitino that seems to grasp his public predicament now, and to put himself into the shoes of the public. And it is followed, just a bit later, by this statement: “My story is complicated and crazy.”
That, I would say, is undeniable. In his foreword, Jeff Van Gundy writes: “I will always be grateful and indebted to Coach Pitino for giving me a chance to pursue my dreams in coaching. Now I urge you to give Coach Pitino the same chance he gave me many years ago. Read his story and decide for yourself.”
I read his story, though there was little need. I wrote his previous book with him. I’ve followed every public statement he’s given since these events. There are some new details about old events. I'm not sure I'd classify anything as a "bombshell."
Here are five takeaways, from someone who has attempted to write sincerely about Pitino’s life and career:
1). IT GOES WAY BACK. Pitino takes a while to build to the present day. There are lengthy chapters on his life in basketball, going all the way back to Harold Garfinkel’s Five-Star Camps. There are discussions of his days at Boston University, Providence, the New York Knicks, Kentucky and the Boston Celtics. But early on, he drops this bit of foreshadowing on taking the job at Louisville.
He says Tom Jurich sent a Citation 10 jet, “an extremely fast plane,” to get Pitino for his introductory press conference, wanting to get Pitino introduced as Louisville coach “before I had time to reconsider.”
The plane belonged to John Schnatter.
“In the years to come,” Pitino writes, “I would find out a lot ore about John Schnatter. . . . Let me just say that knowing what I know today about him, including the fact that he would be instrumental in getting me fired, I would’ve jumped on a bus, taken a train, or walked rather than stepped on his plane.”
2). FINDING OUT ABOUT SCANDALS. Pitino describes how he found out about both the stripper-prostitution allegations and the FBI adidas recruiting investigation.
Of the stripper scandal, Pitino said he learned via phone from sports information director Kenny Klein, who called him after a Puerto Rican National Team loss to Brazil. This was in late July of 2015.
His description of the FBI revelations is more dramatic. He said he was taping a podcast for former Yum! Brands CEO David Novak when his executive assistant, Jordan Sucher, came into the room and asked that they end their interview, that there was trouble. From there, Pitino was told that the FBI had already intercepted two of his assistants and interviewed them, and within an hour, were there to interview Pitino, who spoke to them with no attorney present.
“Coach, we have to end this,” Jordan said. “There’s a major problem.”
I was surprised by the urgency in Jordan’s voice. I think David was, too, because when I turned to apologize for abruptly ending our talk, he was ready to leave: “We’ve got enough here for the podcast. Don’t worry about it.”
Jordan directed me to our conference room. Kenny Klein, our director for media relations, and
John Carns, our compliance director, were there. Everyone looked grim.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked.
“They picked up two of your assistant coaches,” Kenny said.
“Who’s they?”
“The FBI.”
“The FBI? What are you talking about?”
“The FBI picked up Kenny Johnson in the parking lot right outside. And they picked up Jordan Fair at the airport.”
I was still totally in the dark. “What’s this about? Why did they get picked up?”
“Some type of sting operation.”
