Religious references
Our individual faiths are something that we use in times of personal triumphs and tragedies. It also can be used as the ultimate deflection and a cheap stunt for forgiveness. How many times when scandals happen with public figures that they all of a sudden “find God” and ” will turn to their faith to persevere?”
Pitino was the latest to use this common tactic, particularly when asked about his public perception and whether he cares about the opinions of others. I have no reason to question him on his religion, but in his case, he’ll need to have a lot of answers when you factor in the prostitution in the dorms and his own personal extramarital affair.
Complete lack of accountability
This is where he pretty much lost everyone. Throughout the interview, the only thing he plead guilty to was hiring the wrong guys. He blamed the assistants that he was personally responsible for for “going rogue” and doing things he had no knowledge of.
He’s also now suing Adidas for “taking away something that meant so much to him.” Remember, this was the same Adidas that didn’t want to have much to do with the basketball program. It does make sense though if his story true.
Then he took a shot at the Board of Trustees for how they fired him “before the facts came out”. He then went on to say that they aren’t part of the Louisville he knows. Clearly, there was an expectation that the University would stand by him once again, even though they were still on probation for the previous incident.
Was there really a need to take a petty shot at a school who was simply doing what was best for the program? Besides, Pitino really shouldn’t be shocked by this. Remember when Louisville accepted a one-year postseason ban in the middle of the season after their previous scandal? They effectively sacrificed grad transfers Trey Lewis and Damion Lee to preserve their highly touted recruiting class.
This time around it was Pitino and now former Athletic Director Tom Jurich, who was officially fired the other day, that were sacrificed to avoid major penalties. What goes around comes around folks.