Rick Bozich asks what happened to Rick Pitino... "Kentucky happened."

WDRB's Rick Bozich has never been one to shy away from controversial topics in his writing, for both good and bad. This afternoon, however, he wrote what may have been one of his most brutally honest pieces ever. Bozich's column discussed the downfall of Rick Pitino, starting with his rise to National Champion at Kentucky, to bottom of the barrel following scandal after scandal at the University of Louisville. He began by discussing how weird it feels to send the legendary coach out with so much disgust and anger, when he was "supposed" to be sent off and appreciated for his historic career like most other historic coaches do.

Rick Pitino was supposed to go out surrounded by family and friends, not with attorneys sharing the results of a polygraph test they say Pitino passed. There should have been music and standing ovations, not photocopies of text messages with an AAU coach from what was apparently Pitino's telephone. There was supposed to be talk about how Pitino won national titles at Louisville and Kentucky, not questions about whether the pressure to keep up with Kentucky and John Calipari led to this abrupt end to a Hall of Fame career. It’s over now, the University of Louisville portion of Pitino's coaching career. On the brink of his 17th season at U of L and 25th coaching in this state, the most compelling college basketball coach exited Monday with the blunt word from the U of L Athletics Association that Pitino’s contract was terminated. What happened?

To put it simply, Kentucky happened. The competition to keep up with Calipari and his recruiting success happened. His losses to the Wildcats year after year happened. In Bozich's eyes, the "little brother" place on the totem pole compared to Kentucky may have been too much for Pitino to take.

Kentucky happened because halfway through Pitino’s 16-year run in Louisville, John Calipari rolled into Lexington. You started to hear the whispers that Cal was eager to bloody Pitino’s nose. The two had a history. Kentucky happened because Calipari recruited better players, went to more Final Fours and beat Pitino head-to-head over and over and over. Did the competitive rush to keep up with Kentucky lead to a member of Pitino’s staff organizing the stripper and prostitution scandal that knocked U of L out of the 2016 NCAA Tournament, the possible vacating of the 2013 NCAA title and an embarrassing probation? Did the drive to run with Kentucky inspire another member of Pitino’s staff to get dragged into this federal investigation? The Brian Bowen recruitment smelled too good to be true. The federal government appears to be making the case that five-star recruits don’t show up in early June without special incentives. Until a sharper, on-the-record version of both events develops, the Kentucky Happened explanation works for me.

Overall, scandals and disappointment will be on the forefront when highlighting Pitino's coaching career. Forever.

Now Bowen and the stripper scandal will define Pitino’s career as much as the two national titles, seven Final Four trips at Providence, Kentucky and Louisville and the Hall of Fame. It’s not the way Rick Pitino was supposed to say goodbye.

He's been officially fired from the program that once thought so highly of him. The remaining $44-million of his contract will likely never reach his hands. Adidas has officially cut ties with him. Louisville fans will look at him in shame and disgust, not happiness and appreciation for what he did for the program. As much as he says he will fight the decision and the dollar figures, it's over. You can read the rest of Bozich's article here.