John Clay’s Sidelines

Links pertaining to report of U of L and ex-UK coach Rick Pitino’s admission that he had sex with Karen Sypher and gave her $3,000 to have an abortion:

• NEW: Pitino story on front page of Huffington Post.
• NEW: Mark Bradley of the AJC on Pitino affair.
• New York Times’ The Quad blog on what’s next for Pitino.
• Dick Weiss reports that Pitino scandal is the talk of Boston.
• New York Times headline, “Pitino says he paid for abortion.”
• Ken Howlett of A Sea of Blue asks, “Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?”
• Card Chronicle says it is a very, very bad day to be a Louisville basketball fan.
• Cathy Burke of the New York Post calls it, “PITINO BOMBSHELL.”
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger writes that Pitino’s image is tarnished forever.
• USA Today wants to know what is Pitino’s next move?
• Deadspin thinks it will be fun watching the media fumble helplessly on the Pitino story.
• Kentucky Sports Radio refers to it as the news “hits the fan.”

Continue reading ‘Rick Pitino sex scandal links’

Karen Sypher

The Courier-Journal is reporting that U of L basketball coach Rick Pitino told Louisville police that he had consensual sex with Karen Sypher on Aug. 1, 2003, but he denied her allegation that he raped her.

Pitino did say that he gave Sypher $3,000 to have an abortion.

The C-J obtained the information through open records requests.

The C-J reports that prosecutors who have reviewed the charges do not believe that Pitino will be charged.

Syphers has been indicted on extortion charges.

Be sure and click on the story. It has excellent detail.

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• AP reports that ex-UK receiver Steve Johnson, now of the Buffalo Bills, has suffered an injury to his ribs.
• Courier-Journal columnist Rick Bozich compares Big East basketball to SEC football.
• Kentucky Sports Radio reports that UK will release its basketball schedule via TV.
• A Sea of Blue looks at the UK defensive line.

Continue reading ‘BBL: UK will release hoops schedule via the tube’

At SportsIllustrated.com, Luke Winn writes that when he entered Madison Square Garden for last night’s NBA draft, he noticed the seating arrangement had new UK coach John Calipari sitting directly behind U of L coach, and rival, Rick Pitino.

Winn said he never saw Cal sit in that seat, however.

Excerpt:

The ego-cramping in that scenario would’ve rivaled the physical cramping that occurred when the NBA seated Shawn Bradley and Manute Bol back-to-back at the 2004 draft. Pitino eventually sat in his seat while Calipari — at least while I was in the room — avoided his, which meant no awkward photos, and no opportunity for Kentucky fans to create Photoshops of him putting his feet in Pitino’s hair.

Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.

Ralph Willard

Update: It’s official.

Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports is reporting that Ralph Willard has decided to resign as head coach at Holy Cross and join Rick Pitino at Louisville.

This development would throw water on rumors that Pitino would be interested in the opening at Southern Cal, now that Tim Floyd has resigned.

After all, why would Willard agree to come to Louisville if Pitino was on his way to Los Angeles?

It’s also a good hire. Willard is a terrific basketball coach, who was Rick’s assistant at UK before becoming head coach at Western Kentucky, then Pittsburgh and Holy Cross.

This is probably the best news Pitino has received in quite some time.

Now that Tim Floyd’s devil-deal with O.J. Mayo has led him to the unemployment line, Southern Cal is in the job market for a new basketball coach.

Name to watch: Rick Pitino.

It’s already started this morning with buzz that the Louisville coach could be a candidate to rescue the fallen Trojans. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but given the circumstances involved, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility.

Circumstances such as:

• There is the ugly Karen Sypher extortion trial on the horizon, which promises to divulge many ugly and embarrassing details if it makes its way into the courtroom. There is a line of thinking that Pitino would rather handle those headlines from afar rather than right there in the city of Louisville.

• There were rumors throughout last season that Rick was interested in the open Arizona job, which eventually went to Xavier coach Sean Miller. And that was before the Sypher story broke.

Continue reading ‘Get ready for the Rick Pitino to Southern Cal speculation’

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

• My column on the UK football schedule, with its string of 11 straight Saturdays.
• Jerry Tipton of the H-L reports that ex-UK walk-on Landon Slone has committed to Morehead State.
• Mike Fields of the H-L has story of two local stars who have committed to UK baseball.
• If you have an ESPN insider subscription, you can read Jay Bilas criticize the rush to judgment over John Calipari.
• But Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer calls Calipari “the epitome of sleaze.” (Hat tip to UK Big Blue Nation.)
• Rush The Court issues a reminder that another Memphis player, Doneal Mack, had a questionable ACT that caused Florida to say no.
• Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News thinks NCAA will end up vacating Memphis Final Four trip of 2008.
• The St. Paul Pioneer Press did an interview with Jodie Meeks after the Kentucky guard worked out for the Timberwolves.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Two differing opinions on John Calipari’

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports is reporting that Rick Pitino has emerged as a candidate for the vacant Sacramento Kings’ head coaching job.

That might explain some of the rumors going around Louisville today that Pitino was about to resign as U of L’s coach, a rumor refuted by C.L. Brown of the Courier-Journal.

Excerpt from Yahoo:

Pitino has communicated his interest in a possible NBA return to Kings ownership, sources say, and one league official describes the Maloof family as “intrigued.”

It is believed that Pitino intermediaries initiated the contact. No Kings offer is imminent and so far conversations have been exploratory in nature.

Sources caution that there are significant hurdles that need to be cleared before Pitino could become Sacramento’s coach, but say for a variety of reasons Pitino is feeling the pull of the pros again.

Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof denied that the Kings have spoken with Pitino, but several NCAA and NBA sources strongly insist that Pitino has talked by phone with at least one member of the family and has been a major topic of discussion within the organization the past week.

There were rumors during the season that Pitino was interested in the coaching vacancy at Arizona. Given the unflattering headlines made at season’s end thanks to the “extortion” episode, it isn’t shocking that Pitino might be exploring other opportunities. It doesn’t mean that Rick is leaving Louisville, however.

Hat tip to Card Chronicle.

Update: Gary Parrish sounds a similar note for CBS Sportsline.

Billy Reed writes that with Rick Pitino, the damage is done. William F. is right. At this point, it’s not really important whether Pitino’s claim of an extortion attempt proves to be true, or if Karen Sypher’s undisclosed claims have validity. What is important is that they have commanded the public’s attention, especially the local public, these past five days. For Pitino, that’s not good.

Pitino isn’t just a basketball coach. He’s the face of a program. Billy Gillispie learned that, to his detriment, at Kentucky. No different with Rick. He doesn’t just coach. He helps fund-raise, endorses products, partners with coroporate sponsors, and, maybe most improtantl, visits the homes of potential recruits.

You wonder how a messy he-said/she-said saga will play in those scenarious. Time will pass. People will forget. But not all people. Coaches are not immune from personal problems, but not all are played out in such a public forum, in such an unseemly way. Rick isn’t just any coach. He’s won a national title. He’s taken teams to a quartet of Final Fours. Other than the “Man Possessed” feature by William Nack in Sports Illustrated a few years back, there has been little to sully his reputation.

I don’t know enough to pass judgement on Billy’s blasting of Channel 41 in all of this. For those of us outside the ‘Ville, it was baffling why Pitino would release a statement Saturday night about something in the media when that something could not be found in media. It appeared to be pre-emptive strike, if a risky one. It’s too soon to know for sure if it worked.

I do agree with something I heard Larry Glover say the other night on WVLK. Paraphrasing, Glover said that in situations such as this, the rich and powerful rarely lose to those who aren’t rich and powerful..

But in a way, he’s already lost. While John Calipari is out creating stories by chasing top-notch talent, Pitino is trying to knock down attacks on his reputation, one that can never quite be the same.

Update 1: Here’s blog post from a Louisville blog, with no details, but a mood of gloom.

Update 2: ESPN reports extortion probe is nearly complete.

Tim and Karen Sypher

Though WDRB television in Louisville is not running the interview it did with Karen Sypher, the woman involved in the alleged extortion case with U of L basketball coach Rick Pitino, the station does say that Sypher’s claims against U of L coach Rick Pitino are “of a personal nature.”

Here’s excerpt from an espn.com story on the Pitino mess:

WDRB news anchor Candyce Clifft, who conducted the interview with Karen Sypher, said the station has chosen not to air it because “we couldn’t substantiate the claims she was making.”

Clifft said the claims against Pitino were “of a personal nature, not related to his recruiting or coaching. That’s all I’m at liberty to say.”

Clifft said Sypher approached WDRB with the information.

Clifft said she interviewed Sypher for nearly two hours on-camera, in the presence of WDRB’s general manager and news director. Afterward, the station had an independent polygraph expert administer a lie-detector test to Sypher — a test she agreed to do before the interview.

Clifft said that the polygraph test could have any of three results: pass, fail or inconclusive. She said Sypher’s test fell into the inconclusive range. Clifft said there were some questions she asked that Sypher did not answer conclusively or convincingly, which heightened the station’s concerns about the veracity of her information.