Gov. Matt Bevin had it out for Tom Jurich, says Rick Pitino in new memoir

Bevin was unhappy with the Yum Center deal Jurich negotiated for the university, Pitino says

Pitino calls Bevin a "religious zealot with a puritanical streak."

Matt Bevin is a "religious zealot" who led a movement to oust Tom Jurich because the governor was unhappy with the KFC Yum Center deal, according to former men's basketball coach Rick Pitino.

In his new memoir, "Pitino: My Story" — released Tuesday — the Hall of Fame coach portrayed his firing as part of the fallout of an intricate plot to rein in Jurich, the former athletic director. Bevin was allied with state leaders and businessmen upset over his handling of the financing renegotiations with the city and state.

Much of the book's criticism aimed at Bevin relies on secondhand conversations, but Pitino said in an interview with the Courier Journal Friday that everything in his memoir is "100 percent the truth."

Read this:How KFC Yum Center became Louisville's billion-dollar baby

He said Jurich's opposition to the new Yum Center deal "apparently hurt the governor" but that he still can't believe the university let either of them go.

"In the end, the governor has the purse strings that control the university, so Tom had to give in and give $2 to $3 million more back to the state, which he didn’t want to do," Pitino said.

The governor's office did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday morning seeking comment.

In the book, Pitino claimed that Jurich was a source of ire for Kentucky's Republican governor. And Bevin created a new university board of trustees with members, namely Chairman J. David Grissom and pizza mogul John Schnatter, who deliberately were hostile to the athletic director responsible for much of the university's success, Pitino wrote.

The book described a meeting with Bevin, Grissom and Schnatter, in addition to interim University of Louisville President Greg Postel and board member Ulysses "Junior" Bridgeman, that took place sometime after Aug. 24, 2017.

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Pitino said it was about the school's $160 million contract extension with Adidas, which Jurich had been criticized by university administrators for keeping a secret.

"Tom told me things got very heated very quickly," Pitino wrote. "(Jurich) vehemently denied anyone was kept in the dark and said any suggestion otherwise was a lie."

Pitino said he thinks it was that meeting where Bevin, Grissom and Schnatter, who he refers to as a "trio of millionaires who are used to getting their way," decided Jurich had to go. He says the three learned "they would never have total control with Tom Jurich running the athletic department."

Pitino was fired in October 2017 just three weeks after it was revealed that the university was included in the FBI's investigation into corruption in college basketball recruiting.

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That controversy followed the men's basketball program's escort scandal that resulted in the NCAA vacating its 2013 national championship. Before that, Pitino was embroiled in his own sex scandal involving a woman he had an affair with who was later convicted of trying to extort him.

Jurich, who hired Pitino in 2001, was fired just two days after Pitino.

The former basketball coach pointed the finger at Bevin, who he describes as a "religious zealot with a puritanical streak." The memoir says the governor had Jurich in his sights long before the contentious meeting about the Adidas deal or the FBI investigation.

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Pitino said in early 2016 an unnamed personal friend and former Louisville athlete with a "strong connection to Bevin's inner circle" told him about a conversation with a mutual friend of the governor's.

"Bevin's buddy made it clear: Tom was in the crosshairs," Pitino said in the book.

Pitiino declined to tell the Courier Journal who that person was in a telephone interview, only that it wasn't a politician but "someone who knows the governor very close and personal."

Bevin sacked the university's board of trustees a few months later, citing internal dysfunction. He eventually installed a new board that included Grissom and Schnatter.

Pitino said he heard different theories on why the governor took such action, including one that says it was to curry favor with University of Kentucky boosters. He said in the book that he doesn't believe the rivalry was a main factor in his or Jurich's ouster.

"Instead, I believe Tom's successful deal-making ruffled too many feathers," Pitino said.

During that time the city, state and university were renegotiating on how to pay for the Yum Center's construction bonds. The downtown arena has long been a sore spot for city and state leaders, who are partners with the university in financing the 22,000-seat facility.

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"The genesis of Tom's demise lies, I believe, somewhere in the events surrounding the KFC Yum Center," Pitino wrote.

In July 2017, after months of contentious discussion, the board of trustees approved a revised lease agreement that required the university to fork over an additional $2.42 million annually.

Pitino's book recounted how the Yum Center came to be and called out state leaders, such as State Auditor Mike Harmon, for criticizing the deal favoring the university. The book suggested that Jurich's reluctance to come up with more revenue "did not go over well in Frankfort, where the governor controls the purse strings."

"Tom and the U of L were guilty of being good negotiators," Pitino wrote. "He wrangled favorable revenue share agreements prior to arena construction. Was that Tom's fault? He was just doing his job."

Reporter Danielle Lerner contributed to this story. Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or pbailey@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/philb.