Rick Pitino Fired From Louisville Following Recruiting Scandal
ESPN is reporting: Rick Pitino is no longer the men’s basketball coach at Louisville as well as Athletic director Tom Jurich, after the program was linked to a federal investigation into…
ESPN is reporting:
Rick Pitino is no longer the men's basketball coach at Louisville as well as Athletic director Tom Jurich, after the program was linked to a federal investigation into fraud and corruption in recruiting.
On Tuesday, 10 men -- including a top Adidas executive and four college assistant coaches -- were charged with using hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to influence star athletes' choice of schools, shoe sponsors, agents, even tailors. Federal prosecutors said at least three top high school recruits were promised payments of as much as $150,000, using money supplied by Adidas, to attend two universities sponsored by the athletic shoe company.
Following a three-year investigation by the FBI, federal prosecutors announced the charges of fraud and corruption against 10 men associated with college basketball:
- Assistant coaches Chuck Person (Auburn), Lamont Evans (Oklahoma State), Emanuel "Book" Richardson (Arizona) and Tony Bland (Southern California);
- James Gatto, director of global sports marketing for Adidas;
- Merl Code, another Adidas employee;
- Christian Dawkins, a former NBA agent who was recently fired from ASM Sports;
- Munish Sood, a financial adviser;
- Jonathan Brad Augustine, president of The League Initiative and program director of the Adidas-sponsored 1 Family AAU program;
- Rashan Michel, a former NBA official who founded Thompson Bespoke Clothing, a custom clothier for athletes.
The allegations against an unnamed school in Kentucky -- later identified as Louisville -- include payments of $100,000 from Adidas to the family of an unnamed player, identified as "Player-10," to ensure he signs with the school.
