Pitino Situation Turning Really Ugly

[Skatastrophy]

Now to figure out how to reference this in the gold mine next year....

First off we're going to have to make sure that our Coaches keep their wives far away from any Restaurant that Pitino is dining in.

Secondly, if any student needs an abortion they should ask Pitino for a little cash.

Third, not only will Louisville players not graduate but they're being taught life-lessons by a rapist.

[mu_hilltopper]

Cosign, reinko.  For most big programs, collegiate sports are not about the glory of athletics, the purity of putting a ball through a hoop or across a goal-line.   Programs have a lot to do with the national reputation of your brand for your educational institution.  

When your #1 most visible person at your university is now viewed as a scumbag who has sex in restaurants, then pays for an abortion (if you're against that sort of thing) .. your national brand takes quite a hit.

That being said, he won't be fired.  That's Louisville for you.

[BrewCity83]

That being said, he won't be fired.  That's Louisville for you.

Sadly, it's not just Louisville.  You can bet that if Louisville did take the high road and fired him (which they won't), a bunch of high-profile schools would be lining up to talk to Pitino to see who could throw the most $ at him. 

I'm quite certain (and proud to say) that MU would not be one of those schools.

[GGGG]

Cosign, reinko.  For most big programs, collegiate sports are not about the glory of athletics, the purity of putting a ball through a hoop or across a goal-line.   Programs have a lot to do with the national reputation of your brand for your educational institution.  

When your #1 most visible person at your university is now viewed as a scumbag who has sex in restaurants, then pays for an abortion (if you're against that sort of thing) .. your national brand takes quite a hit.

That being said, he won't be fired.  That's Louisville for you.

Louisville has already done the cost/benefit analysis.  In their eyes, dropping Pitino would be a bigger hit than keeping him therefore you can't blame them for doing so.  MU, for a good reason, has a higher standard.

[hdog1017]

Planned Parenthood should sign a sponsorship deal with Louisville. 

[mu_hilltopper]

Louisville has already done the cost/benefit analysis.  In their eyes, dropping Pitino would be a bigger hit than keeping him therefore you can't blame them for doing so.  MU, for a good reason, has a higher standard.

You can't blame them for having low standards?  For valuing basketball success above all else?

[Pakuni]

Cosign, reinko.  For most big programs, collegiate sports are not about the glory of athletics, the purity of putting a ball through a hoop or across a goal-line.   Programs have a lot to do with the national reputation of your brand for your educational institution.  

When your #1 most visible person at your university is now viewed as a scumbag who has sex in restaurants, then pays for an abortion (if you're against that sort of thing) .. your national brand takes quite a hit.

That being said, he won't be fired.  That's Louisville for you.

I'm curious as to what he should be fired for.
As morally reprehensible as his acts may be to many of us, he did nothing illegal here. He had an affair and then provided someone with funds which may or may not have been used for a wholly legal medical procedure. He may be a person of dubious morals, but if we fired people for that the unemployment rate would triple.
Are we really advocating that someone lose their job because he or she participating in the procurement of a legal procedure because we find it offensive (or worse)? Are we advocating a state in which cheating on one's spouse - a sin which literally millions and millions have committed - costs you your employment?

Pitino, no doubt, will suffer mightily for his actions, and that's appropriate. But this business about him being paid to set a good example? Pfft. After everything we've learned about our athletic heroes since Jim Bouton, is anyone really so naive as to believe that? He's paid millions to coach basketball, and if he does that well, few will care that he banged some gold digger, maybe knocked her up and went along with her decision to have an abortion. I mean, do you really believe this is a rare occurrence in the sports world?
Let me be clear here: I'm not defending Pitino's actions. They were morally reprehensible. But since when did we start terminating employment - or, as one here goes as far to suggest, imprisoning - people for that?

p.s. Having sex in a closed restaurant makes you a scumbag? Are we really so puritanical that we judge people so harshly based on the location of private sexual encounters? Is there a list out there dictating where it is and is not permissible, and under what circumstances, to engage in such behavior?

[GGGG]

You can't blame them for having low standards?  For valuing basketball success above all else?

The UL administration is doing what they believe is in their best interests.  I blame their fanbase more than I blame their administration.  The MU fanbase would not put up with that for a variety of reasons.

[77ncaachamps]

<<quote: p.s. Having sex in a closed restaurant makes you a scumbag? Are we really so puritanical that we judge people so harshly based on the location of private sexual encounters? Is there a list out there dictating where it is and is not permissible, and under what circumstances, to engage in such behavior?>>

He's a scumbag for putting his wife of 33 years through this...so it doesn't matter where it took place, but that it happened.

As to the last question...just throwing it out there...on an altar, in front of a school, in a public bus...

On a lighter note, I look forward to the Karen Cunagin Sypher BIG HEAD when Looserville visits!  

[77ncaachamps]

The UL administration is doing what they believe is in their best interests.  I blame their fanbase more than I blame their administration.  The MU fanbase would not put up with that for a variety of reasons.

Glad you acknowledged that...

However, I can see why some UL supporters are calling this cow manure.

http://thevillevoice.com/2009/04/28/syphers-pitino-claim-not-a-first/

Sypher's Pitino Claim Not a First
April 28th, 2009 by rickredding

Karen Sypher, the woman charged with trying to extort money from Rick Pitino, filed a sexual harassment suit in 2001 against a former employer.

Sypher, then Karen Wise, worked at an auto body shop until she was fired in 2001. She filed the suit against her former employer, now deceased, claiming that while sharing a room on a business trip that he engaged in kissing, grabbing and making romantic attempts at her.

WHAS-TV was the only local media outlet to report the story last night.

She asked for $200,000, including $101,000 for emotional pain and suffering, and claimed in the suit she was "shocked, distressed and depressed" after being fired. Her attorney then, as now, was Thomas Clay.

According to the WHAS-TV report, the suit was settled out of court.

Elsewhere in the suit, she claimed the employer at one point pushed her against a wall, grabbed her clothes and kissed her.

[StillAWarrior]

I'm curious as to what he should be fired for.
As morally reprehensible as his acts may be to many of us, he did nothing illegal here.

And losing basketball games isn't illegal either, but coaches get fired for it all the time.  I know that people will say, "but running a successful basketball program (i.e., not losing) is his job, and coaches can get fired if they don't do their job."  And being the face of the basketball program -- if not the university -- is also the coach's job.  At some schools (presumably Marquette) Pitino's actions would be so troubling that the school would conclude that he's not doing that part of his job well enough and fire him.  At other schools (apparently Louisville) they don't think that such behavior is serious enough to warrant firing him.

I wonder if there are any personal character standards in his contract.  It's getting more and more common in professional sports.  I wonder if those clauses have found their way into college coaches' contracts.

[Pakuni]

And losing basketball games isn't illegal either, but coaches get fired for it all the time.  I know that people will say, "but running a successful basketball program (i.e., not losing) is his job, and coaches can get fired if they don't do their job."  And being the face of the basketball program -- if not the university -- is also the coach's job.  At some schools (presumably Marquette) Pitino's actions would be so troubling that the school would conclude that he's not doing that part of his job well enough and fire him.  At other schools (apparently Louisville) they don't think that such behavior is serious enough to warrant firing him.

I wonder if there are any personal character standards in his contract.  It's getting more and more common in professional sports.  I wonder if those clauses have found their way into college coaches' contracts.

To answer your question ... Pitino does have a personal conduct clause in his contract, and Louisville, at this time, seems unlikely to exercise it.

Regarding losing basketball games not being illegal ... not sure what your point is. Pitino was hired to win basketball games. If he fails in that regard, he should be fired because he is not meeting the expectations of his employment. Pitino, to the best of my knowledge, was not hired to be a shining beacon of morality for the fine people of Kentucky and college basketball fans the world over.
If the UL determines his behavior is the source of serious or irreperable harm to the school and/or basketball program, then they're certainly within their rights to dismiss him. But let's come down off the high horse and stop pretending that athletic figures are paid - or should be expected - to set a good example. They're not, and people who have such expectations will find themselves perpetually disappointed.

[wyoMUfan]

I'm surprised that Pitino still had some strong swimmers at his advanced age. 

HAHAHAHAHA, took me a second but thats fantastic...

I always felt like there was something fishy about patino, he emits an aura of deuchbag that i've always hated.

[GGGG]

Pitino's contract has a "morality clause."  See section 6.1.2

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090812/SPORTS02/90812007/1002/sports

[mu_hilltopper]

Who knows what is in his contract .. but there's a chance there's a "morals clause".  (edit: spoke too soon, thanks Sultan)

http://definitions.uslegal.com/m/morals-clause/

Often included for contracts of people in the public eye .. MLB, NFL, etc, .. the private acts of athletes have nothing to do with their performance on the field, right?  As long as they hit home runs, we don't care what unseemly things they do off the clock!

.. And that's for professional sports.  Collegiate sports, it's a different animal.  There is some amount of "higher standards" going on at universities .. some amount of "shaping minds of young people" .. etc.

[ChicosBailBonds]

What happened to all the posters who are unwilling to be judge, jury, and executioner on message boards?

I may be wrong, but I believe the article says Pitino admitted to such actions.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I have to agree with some of the posters on the louisville boards.

I mean is it any of our business what any of the posters on MUSCOOP.COM do with their wives, GF's, Mistresses and gay lovers?

Then its none of our effing business what Pitino does in his.

The posters on MUScoop aren't the face nationally of a university, which Pitino is.  That's part of the deal when you are in those positions and making millions of dollars, you're asked to do things like....oh I don't know....not sully the name of the university. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

Let me start this by saying that I do not support or condone the actions of Slick Rick...

He is not going anywhere. University has already said they were made aware of the situation from the beginning and their thoughts and prayers are with the Pitino Family. So he will not even take a leave of absence. I know what he did was quite repulsive, but unfortunately it is part of society.  I am just glad the other woman tried to shoot the moon for the $10 MIL.  If she had asked for let's say $100K, I bet she gets paid off and the world would never know this wonderful little nugget about him.

I was not aware that adultery was a crime in the US. To bad this didn't occur on a vacation to Tehran.   

Maybe, but I wouldn't bet the house on it.  The President of the university said that some of the details that came out yesterday were a surprise to him, so I wouldn't count on the notion that they knew everything up front.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'm curious as to what he should be fired for.
As morally reprehensible as his acts may be to many of us, he did nothing illegal here. He had an affair and then provided someone with funds which may or may not have been used for a wholly legal medical procedure. He may be a person of dubious morals, but if we fired people for that the unemployment rate would triple.
Are we really advocating that someone lose their job because he or she participating in the procurement of a legal procedure because we find it offensive (or worse)? Are we advocating a state in which cheating on one's spouse - a sin which literally millions and millions have committed - costs you your employment?

Pitino, no doubt, will suffer mightily for his actions, and that's appropriate. But this business about him being paid to set a good example? Pfft. After everything we've learned about our athletic heroes since Jim Bouton, is anyone really so naive as to believe that? He's paid millions to coach basketball, and if he does that well, few will care that he banged some gold digger, maybe knocked her up and went along with her decision to have an abortion. I mean, do you really believe this is a rare occurrence in the sports world?
Let me be clear here: I'm not defending Pitino's actions. They were morally reprehensible. But since when did we start terminating employment - or, as one here goes as far to suggest, imprisoning - people for that?

p.s. Having sex in a closed restaurant makes you a scumbag? Are we really so puritanical that we judge people so harshly based on the location of private sexual encounters? Is there a list out there dictating where it is and is not permissible, and under what circumstances, to engage in such behavior?

Most of these contracts have a behavior clause and that's what he would be fired for....putting the university in a position of embarrassment based on the actions of the employee.

[ChicosBailBonds]

The UL administration is doing what they believe is in their best interests.  I blame their fanbase more than I blame their administration.  The MU fanbase would not put up with that for a variety of reasons.

There are many UL fans on their boards that want him to resign or be fired, too.  The thread examples listed in this thread certainly capture some of the fans comments, but there are also a good chunk of fans that are furious at Pitino and want him gone.

[LON]

Wasn't this in an episode of "Sopranos"?

[Cooby Snacks]

Rick's going to be on Capitol Hill tomorrow lobbying for 196th trimester abortions.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Are we really so puritanical that we judge people so harshly based on the location of private sexual encounters? Is there a list out there dictating where it is and is not permissible, and under what circumstances, to engage in such behavior?

If there was a list dictating where it's not permissible, I would submit the top of the list should be in the Oval Office with an intern.

An Italian restaurant in Louisville would be much lower on the list.

[StillAWarrior]

Regarding losing basketball games not being illegal ... not sure what your point is. Pitino was hired to win basketball games. If he fails in that regard, he should be fired because he is not meeting the expectations of his employment. Pitino, to the best of my knowledge, was not hired to be a shining beacon of morality for the fine people of Kentucky and college basketball fans the world over.

Coaches are hired for more than one reason.  They're hired to win basketball games and they're retired to represent the university.  Only Louisville can decide if Pitino's actions will so affect his ability to represent the university in the way that they want to be represented that they fire him.  It has nothing to do with being a "shining beacon of morality."  They just have to decide if he's representing the university the way they want him to.  I suspect they'll overlook it...this time.

Honest question:  did Eustachy do anything illegal?  I don't recall that he did.  Do you think he was hired to be a "shining beacon of morality for the people of Iowa?" (I know, he resigned, but it seemed like he was about to get fired)   Coaches get fired all the time for doing things that their schools think reflect poorly upon the university, even if they aren't illegal.

[Marquette65]

 Slick Rick is NOT going to get fired (especially with the new hire 75 miles away) at best a couple of game suspension.

What is amazing, is how the Slick One has suddenly become the victim in this mess.