University of Louisville: Damage caused by Rick Pitino 'catastrophic'

Gentry Estes | Courier Journal

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Attorneys for the University of Louisville Athletic Association called the damage caused by former men's basketball coach Rick Pitino "catastrophic" in seeking to dismiss the lawsuit against the organization.

ULAA’s defense team argued in a document filed Monday that the university “undeniably had just cause” to fire Pitino on Oct. 16, 2017, pointing to Pitino’s contractual terms regarding NCAA violations.

“Through this lawsuit, Pitino seeks to recover nearly $40 million while saddling the university, its student-athletes, and its fans with the devastating consequences of his own shortcomings based on the hollow claim that he did not know what was happening in his own program,” the ULAA motion read. “But Pitino’s knowledge, or alleged lack thereof, is irrelevant to this motion. Under his employment contract, ULAA had the right to terminate Pitino for 'just cause,' which was defined to include, among other things, the occurrence of a Level I NCAA violation that damages the University in a material fashion.”

Read more: Rick Pitino stands by Kenny Johnson as former assistant lands job

After the revelation in September of an FBI complaint detailing schemes allegedly involving payments to help steer two prospective recruits to Louisville, Pitino was placed on administrative leave and subsequently fired weeks later.

Pitino on Nov. 30 filed a lawsuit against the ULAA for breach of contract, arguing that his suspension lacked proper notice and that should not have been fired for “just cause,” a distinction that allowed the university to avoid paying the $4.3 million per year that Pitino would have been owed through June 2026.

ULAA’s motion Monday — authored by the law firm Dinsmore & Shohl — argued that Pitino was still paid during his administrative leave and that “The University of Louisville was the subject of three of the most notorious scandals in college sports history during Pitino's tenure,” referencing Pitino’s past scandal involving Karen Sypher in addition to the program’s escort scandal and the FBI investigation.

“Employees are frequently terminated for engaging in actions much less significant than those at issue here,” the ULAA motion read. “Conversely, this case involves a highly compensated college basketball coach, who was paid millions of dollars each year to run a clean program and who was terminated for serious violations of NCAA rules, which were levied under his watch and which were catastrophic to the university for which he coached.”

Steve Pence, Pitino's attorney, said Tuesday that the motion for summary judgment was "frivolous" and included "irrelevant" items "that were meant to run down or cast the coach in a bad light."

"When you don't have the good law on your side and you can't really argue the case as it exists, then what you do is throw trash in to try to dirty someone up and make him looking bad," Pence said. "They mentioned things that had nothing to do with the motion. ... We're going to maintain the high ground. We think we have a great case, and we're not going to stoop to that level."

He filed a response in court later Tuesday backing up that claim. He also alleged that the university failed to provide them with documents requested in discovery in February.

Pitino received a five-game suspension last year from the NCAA for failing to appropriately monitor Andre McGee, the Cardinals’ former director of basketball operations who was accused of paying for dances and sex parties involving recruits and players.

See also: Report: Louisville basketball's Ray Spalding to attend NBA draft combine

Pitino appealed his own ruling separately from the university’s ultimately unsuccessful appeal of the forced vacation of wins and financial penalties. He later withdrew his own appeal of NCAA sanctions, as noted in a letter by appeals committee chair David Williams that was dated Nov. 15 and included as evidence by ULAA’s attorneys.

ULAA’s motion noted that Pitino said in the Nov. 30 complaint that his own decision was still on appeal, “but he had already withdrawn his appeal at least two weeks earlier.”

Documents filed earlier this month showed that Pitino’s legal team was scheduled to depose interim university president Greg Postel, athletic director Vince Tyra, compliance consultant Chuck Smrt and former interim basketball coach David Padgett as a part of the lawsuit.

► In addition to the motion, ULAA attorneys also Monday filed 53 requests for admission from Pitino. Those requests ranged from asking Pitino to admit he was responsible for ensuring the NCAA rules compliance of former assistant coaches Jordan Fair and Kenny Johnson to admitting that he was “Coach 2” in the September FBI complaint detailing allegations in its college basketball investigation.

Pitino was also requested to “Admit that the FBI Complaint alleges that you were involved in a scheme to funnel money to the families of at least one prospective student-athlete in exchange for the student-athlete's commitment to play basketball at the University” and specifically to “Admit that Christian Dawkins asked you to call James Gatto about "getting additional money.’”

"They should not deem any of these admitted," Pence told Courier Journal on Pitino's behalf, "because they're not."

In his Tuesday response, Pence said ULAA is asserting that "Coach Pitino admitted all requests ... by failing to deny them."

Gentry Estes: 502-582-4205; gestes@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @Gentry_Estes. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/gentrye