Three weeks after a second embarrassing scandal rocked the University of Louisville basketball program, Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino has been formally fired.
Led by UofL Interim President Dr. Greg Postel, the school’s athletic association made the decision in a private meeting Monday (10/16). Postel announced at around 2:45 pm that Pitino was fired for cause. The scandal was the second in two years, a Louisville woman’s tell-all memoir detailed a sex-for-cash scheme involving strippers and UofL players and recruits in 2015 and brought embarrassment for the third time in Pitino’s 16 years at the school. In 2010, a woman named Karen Sypher was convicted of extortion following her efforts to force Pitino to pay her money to keep quiet about a one-night stand they had at a Louisville restaurant in 2003. Sypher just left prison over the summer.
Pitino was placed on unpaid leave last month following the FBI’s announcement of a massive investigation into bribery and corruption allegations at several prominent college basketball programs.
Former UofL player and assistant coach David Padgett is currently the acting coach of a Cards team that begins its regular season in less than a month. Padgett will be only the third UofL coach since 1971. Padgett’s contract was formally approved at Monday’s meeting. He’ll earn a base salary of $400,000, with bonuses taking the one-year deal up to the $1 million range.
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