Louisville’s deal with Adidas was apparently a way to get former coach Rick Pitino paid a little more. Okay, a lot more, actually.
College basketball was hit with one of the more infamous scandals in recent memory, when the FBI announced they had been investigating the sport for the past few years now in regards to steering players toward certain schools for the benefit of the shoe companies, in some instances. Right at the forefront of this at the beginning as far as apparel companies go was Adidas, as an executive was among those taken into custody. Also at the forefront of the scandal was the University of Louisville, and the fallout from their alleged involvement saw legendary head coach Rick Pitino put on administrative leave.
With all of this still in the infancy stages, really, we’re learning more and more new information as time goes on. On Thursday, we learned something new about Pitino and just how important the school’s deal with Adidas was to him and his bank account.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, under the way the current deal with Adidas is structured, 98 percent of the money from the deal goes to Pitino. Ninety-eight percent! For perspective, as noted in the report, in 2015-16, $1.5 million went to the head coach while just $25,000 went to the program.
Which is funny, because when the school signed a new lucrative deal with Adidas this summer, athletic director Tom Jurich had this to say about the distribution of the funds.
“It’s for the athletic department,” Jurich replied. “It’s for these student-athletes. It’s been earmarked for them.”
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Apparently, no, this is not the case, as if that really should surprise anyone. That money was headed the way of Pitino, who happily took it without any regard for the program and the kids who work their tails off to make it successful.
It’s a sad reality, but get ready for more of that, because this is all just beginning.