Update: Click the jump for video of ESPN’s Pat Forde and Skip Bayless debating the Pitino apology.
Did Rick Pitino’s well-timed apology on Thursday ring hollow?
Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News thinks so, and I am inclined to degree agree. Before he took to the cameras at 6:30, just at the start of the national TV news, I had told my wife that if the Louisville coach was smart he would throw himself on the mercy of the fan-base, admit his mistake, apologize profusely to the university and his fans, and vow to work harder to make Louisville a winner.
And while Pitino’s apology wasn’t as ridiculous or head-scratching as the bizarro one delieved by South Carolina Governor Mark “Appalachian Trail” Sanford, Rick still couldn’t quite pull an “I’m sorry” off with enough sincerity to make you feel truly sorry for him.
For one thing, he had to bring up 9/11, and in such a convulted and confusing way as to make you wonder if he was asking for sympathy, trying to play off his loss of his best friend and brother-in-law, Billy Minardi, in that attack, or if somehow he was blaming the city of Louisville for not helping him get through it.
What was that all about?
He also had to bring up the “great” season Louisville had last year, making it to the Elite Eight, as if to make sure and remind the fans that, “Hey, I am a good coach, you know.”
We know. That’s not the point.
Plus, as Mike points out in his piece, Pitino kept using the phrase “six years ago,” as if it shouldn’t matter now. It does matter that Pitino has brought embarrassment to his employer right now.
Truth is, Pitino’s boundless ego and never-ending desire for control would never allow him to totally grovel for forgiveness.
He’s not wired that way.
As I wrote this morning, I don’t think he should be fired. Not for the extramarital affair. Not for the funding of the abortion. (The most embarrassing episode Wednesday was Pitino’s attorney Steve Pence’s weak assertion that Pitino thought he was paying for medical insurance, not an abortion. Yeah, right. Makes that “Tell the truth” bromide Pitino told ring a bit hollow.) But I do think that the coach will pay a price with recruits, and national endorsements, and general perception. Yes, the story will recede a bit in our constant 24-hour news cycle. But as opf 2:30 p.m. this afternoon, “Rick Pitino’s girlfriend” was No. 4 on Google’s list of hot trends. Pitino’s image has been damaged forever in that regard. It will take quite a bit of time for people to truly forget.
I also agree with Mike that Pitino’s overall tone was, “I’m sorry I got caught.”
And that’s the one thing we should remember in this. There are plenty of coaches out there who have done the same thing as Rick Pitino, some to a great degree. Pitino is one the got caught. Too bad he couldn’t give a more believable apology.
John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky and graduate of UK, he covered UK football for 13 seasons before being promoted to columnist in 2000. He lives in Lexington with his wife and two sons. You can e-mail him at jclay@herald-leader.com.
If this doesn’t fall under that morality clause in the contract, then what does? I’m not saying one way or another if he should be fired, but what’s it there for?
John:
Why aren\’t members of the news media digging further into the fact that the ex Manager and current Equipment Manager ended up marrying this woman then divorcing her. The Coach selected the manager\’s condo as the first place to meet with the woman after she informed her she was pregnant. Then miraculously six months later the manager and her are married??
She stays quiet for the 6 years they are married now all of a sudden it comes out.
Wouldn\’t a bigger story be that Coach got his underling to marry this women to keep her quiet and pay her off????
I don’t care what Louisville does, except for the fact that our tax dollars do support it. While I don’t want to be holier than thou, I think his banner should be removed from Rupp Arena. Like it or not, human or not, he falls short, and we should not honor him, period. His credibility is likewise permanently damaged, and nothing he ever can say or do will have any significant positive meaning. He is just another skirt chaser who couldn’t honor his wedding vows.
Dave, yes it would be a bigger story. If you can prove that, let me know.
i wouldn’t be surprised if it came out in the woman’s testimony in the upcoming hearing.
and that the UL president was referring to this false marrage when he remarked about “other facts of this case” that surprise him.
Plenty of surprises could come out in the testimony.
Dave, Tim Sypher and his wife also had a baby during that 6 year period. They were together for years. You have to assume that they were doing a little more than playing house for the public.
Dennis, you really need to lighten up. The guy is a human being and to be honest you are definitely pulling the “holier than thou” spiel. No one is perfect and to think you haven’t broken some sort of vow before (wedding, promise, etc..) you are more naive than I think you are. I’m a UK fan and I was angry when Rick went to UL but its been 8 years already. Give the man a break. And when you say pull the banner down from Rupp, you’ve got to be kidding me. The man resurrected this program from probation and put it back on the top and you want to remove the banner he won for us? That may be the most ludicrous thing I have heard in a while. This happened at UL, not UK. Quit worrying about what happens there and quit making things worse for the man. He made a huge mistake and I bet he is paying for it pretty bad right now without having every dumb UK fan berating him all the time. We have a new coach and a new team and we should be excited about the future, not what happened 12 years ago. Just like the man said yesterday, he preaches to his players that “When you have a problem, if you tell the truth, the problem becomes part of your past, but if you lie it becomes part of your future.” You should probably take his advice and face your problems with him leaving because you obviously haven’t.
Take down his banner at Rupp, now hold up guys, I think we are all digging just a little bit too deep here. I just wonder how much of this is still lingering hate not that he left Kentucky, but that he went to Louisville when he came back. Guys the fact is that this is a personal matter, not really newsworthy of this much attention. The only people who should be debating the outcome of this situation are Rick and his family. As for those calling for his resignation, I ask would you get fired from your job if you had an affair? The answer is no, it happens everyday, it is totally wrong but the fact is that this has been blown up by those who would rather stoke the ashes of the long burnt out “you cant leave Kentucky, and goto Louisville” fire. This would not be an issue if Rick was still at Kentucky, the general consenus would be to just sweep it it under teh rug and move on. Guys we as UK fans have to start being more respectable, we ourselves are killing UK’s image. One last thing to remember here guys is that alot of those we honor as sports greats have done worse.
And to make things clear, I\’m definitely not taking up for what he did because I think it was wrong but I\’m not going to act like I\’m perfect. I just wish we would focus on the future, not what Rick Pitino is doing with his spare time. To be honest, he can do whatever he wants as long as we beat him every year.
Have Forde and Pitino ever been seen at Porcini’s. Come on Forde, try a little objectivity.
It is easy to sit behind a computer and critise and pontificate about any subject not just Rick Pitino. Your job is to selle newspapers. The giddiness with Calipari is so overwhelming I doubt he can meet expectations. I’m sure most UK fans would prefer not to have to play Pitino coached teams because they know he wins. They’ve been there and know what he can do.
Pitino was wrong What he did was terrible. It will cost him money and UofL will have him on a short leash. While this ia a high story, where is the outrage over Southern Cal’s problems with Bush and Mayo? Easy answer they are 2000 miles away and UofL and Pitino are the enemy. Be forwarned Petino is ultra competative no matter what the Yahoo Columnist claims he will always field great teams. Time will write the end of this story, lets see how it plays out.
John I seldom disagree with you but in this case the final chapter will determine your accurcy.
.
Who does he think he is, the governor of south carolina or kentucky or arkansas?
talk about a jump in unemployment if everyone who had an affair was fired!
And love the headline on the web page…”pitino’s ability to recruit is damaged”…recruit for what? Do these editors really have the sense of humor I think they do?
On a different angle… when did it become permissible for a restaurant with a liquor license to allow a non-employee to have the keys to stay after hours? I’m pretty sure this violates the State Alcohol and Beverage laws. Additionally, I don’t think I can ever bear the thought of eating at Porcinis & wondering who nailed who on my table the night before… or in the kitchen… or in the deep freeze with my filet mignon. That’s just gross!!!
I believe Porcinis should be fined or closed for their lawlessness & inability to maintain a clean restaurant.
Forde has obviously had his head stuck up Pitino’s **** for so long he’s suffering from oxygen deprivation. “It’s not Pitino’s fault”? I must have missed the part where he was forced to have sex with that woman, and then forced to pay her to abort the result.
Yea, it’s not his fault.
Recruit b-ball players slammer. BTW Joe what is Pitino’s record against UK? 4-4 or 5-3. Doesn’t sound to dominant to me.
I can not believe anyone is surprised. I disliked Rick at UK, I didn’t like him in Boston, and I don’t like him in Louisville.
As I replied to a courier-journal reporter’s piece, Rick admitted to lieing to recruits. His admission was in the Louisville newspaper. He said sure he lies to recruits, everyone does it, and that makes it OK. At UK, he lied, in Boston he quit on his players.
Now it seems so many seem to be sooooo surprised at his lack of morals. And what is with bringing up 9/11?? Come on, his Holiday tournament, the Minardi Classic, is about him, Rick Pitino. I am sorry mister Minardi lost his life, but so did some 3,000 other people. If he wants to have a tournament to help everyone of those families, that would be different, but he has to make it about him.. his best friend, his brother-in-law, etc… Heck Joanne has more loss from the 9/11 than rick did, but he doesn’t even acknowledge that!!!
The man simply has no morals, NONE!!! Get over it. If any of you want to win so baddly that you are willing to give up your morals, then you should be happy with the guy. Get over it, he is exactly what he is, what he has been, and what he will always be.
‘Basser
Gawd, Forde is such a Pitino shill. If living in Louisville is all it takes to opine about Pitino at the WWL, they need higher standards. Asking someone who co-wrote a book with him to give an opinion is like asking my mom if I’m a good boy.
Lastly, how do you sway the undecided? You talk about 9/11…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YOh-rpvjYg
I remember being a student at UK when President Clinton came to visit campus, and Rick Pitino gave him a ringing endorsement. Birds of a feather…
I’m a little curious about the timing of the affair and his leave of absence for “medical reasons”. Didn’t he miss games in late ‘03-early ‘04? Was his “medical problem” actually something else?
Invoking 9/11 makes him a classless jerk. Pretending this was an isolated incident, consequently inviting further scrutiny, makes him an idiot.
Mr. John Clay and the others of this board,
I believe personally, this is now up to UL on how to handle. I am disappointed big time in what Rick has done. However, I am not one of these fans that will erase all the good he has done.
Remember how exciting it felt to have a National championship under our belt again? Thanks to Rick that was possible and achieved. Not to mention the other final 4’s!
Also, I did not like it when he went to UL, but lets be honest - It was a good move! It made our State known again for the great basketball is use to be known as.
Now I was shocked to find out about what he has done. The way I see it, this is now between UL, his family, his God, and his own mind. I hope he recovers, I truly do. He was one of the brillant minds in Basketball during my lifetime (only 31 btw). I thank Rick for what He brought to UK. I am also glad to say that he wasn’t at UK when this happened.
Coach Cal just break NCAA rules…Pitino breaks Commandments.
Joe D.
Please cite coach cal’s ncaa violations.