I agree with almost everything you said, Erik. Jurich is a disgrace. However, as a college professor, I took Louisville's president's comments a bit differently. Yes, he praised and endorsed Jurich, but he also strategically drew a dividing line between himself and the athletics department with his "two presidents" comment. Some observations...
(1) This pre-emptively disconnects him from Jurich's dirty culture in athletics. Ramsey is basically saying that Jurich is alone on the athletics island. Ramsey is no fool. He is trying to save his job. He should be. It is on the line.
(2) This is terrible leadership. As president, Ramsey is ultimately responsible for all happenings at a university. By divorcing himself from athletics in the midst of what will be the biggest scandal in the university's history, he is acting in a cowardly way in front of the entire university community and in front of the taxpayers, who foot a huge chunk of Louisville's bill. If I were a professor at Louisville, I'd be ashamed and betrayed right now. I would want my president to speak in a way that asserts control over every step of this process, from responsibility taking, to investigating, to discipline. He is instead coming across as feeble, dithering, and only concerned for himself.
(3) He is inconsistent. He says he has virtually no control over athletics (not true) and then says he has control over academics (he doesn't). Academics is the provost's job. He is no more in charge of academics at Louisville than he is over athletics. Again, he is trying to align himself with the normal, non-athletic part of the university in order to distance himself from this scandal.
(4) He is doing his job--in a way. The real job of a university president is to fundraise. Right now, he is attempting to carefully manage public opinion by creating two separate entities at Louisville: Academics and athletics. Those in the know know that this is a false dichotomy; he is only doing it to try to manage the damage.
