The former Louisville basketball head coach filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Adidas, claiming Adidas has ruined his reputation and damages caused by Adidas improper dealing with recruits.
The Univerity of Louisville officially fired the Hall of Fame coach on Monday. Pitino is accused of corruption and taking bribes. Once Louisville made their announcement, Adidas who sponsors Louisville released a statement saying it has terminated its personal services agreement with Pitino. The Department of Justice charged 10 people including 4 assistant coaches. One of the Louisville assistant head coaches had planned to send $100,000 to the father of five-star recruit Brian Bowen.
The attorneys of Rick Pitino allege that Adidas employees “outrageous conduct” to send money to the family of a recruit without Pitino’s knowledge has caused “great damage to his public and private reputation”. Pitino has never authorized nor tolerated giving improper benefits to recruits, player or their families to have them join the University of Louisville basketball program, the lawsuit states.
The crazy part about this big mess is that Pitino is still owed roughly $44 million in salary and bonuses from a contract extension which runs through 2026. Louisville interim president Greg Postel said the university athletic board did not discuss any buy out for Pitino. This will affect the basketball program drastically as they have had multiple recruits pull their name from attending the university. The likes of Romeo Langford, Anfernee Simmons, Courtney Ramey and more have committed. The NCAA has also issued harsh punishment to the University. The NCAA has revoked the 2013 national championship and they will also remove over 100 wins from Louisville.
Let us know what you think about the punishment handed to Louisville and whether Pitino is innocent or not?