The ten bazillion dollar question

by:Hunter Campbell08/02/10

@HunterCampbell

072810-rick-pitino-sw-pi_20100728120534_660_320 Dan Shaughnessy usually sucks. In particular when he's being an A-hole to our fearless leader on Boston sports radio. However, today he's asked a pretty pertinent question that I've been pondering myself for quite some time: How does Rick Pitino still have a job? I mean, there is a morality clause in his contract that would seem to have been included just for situations like this. Unless I'm mistaken in thinking that the acts to which he's admitted in open court could be construed as 'moral depravity.' Or maybe this hasn't brought UofL into public disrepute or scandal or greatly offended the public. I could be wrong. Shaughnessy seems to be wondering something along the same lines:
Pitino wins games. He's the most famous person in Louisville. He's taken the Cardinals to the Final Four and Louisville is getting ready to move into a new arena. College basketball is a very big deal in Kentucky. And so Pitino survives. This amazes me. Pitino holds a high position at a major public institution of learning. He makes millions of dollars and controls the lives of talented teenage ballplayers. He succeeds by going to the homes of high school ballplayers and telling parents that their sons will be in good hands in his basketball program. And Louisville does nothing in the wake of these admissions?
It's all very confusing, to say the least. Why does Quick Rick get a pass on the most sickening and amoral public scandal I can ever remember a coach going through? How can Pitino convince a parent of a recruit that he can be their moral compass when his own moral compass seems to be located just south of his waistline? How can Louisville tell anyone, with a straight face, that they're a worthwhile basketball program when they so brazenly turn a blind eye to this kind of behavior? Please, fine readers of KSR. Explain to me how Rick Pitino is still employed. I'm begging you.

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