Russ Brown: Win or lose, Pitino damaging his reputation with his ongoing acts of irresponsibility


LOUISVILLE — In the aftermath of Louisville’s 75-73 loss to Kentucky, UofL coach Rick Pitino is taking heat again. And rightfully so, at least in one case.

First, a disclaimer of sorts. I like Pitino and admire him in certain ways. In my 50 years of writing about big-time college basketball and football, he is the most entertaining, thoughtful and quotable coach I have ever been around in any sport.

He has also, for the most part, been one of the most cooperative, on the same level as former UofL hoops coach Denny Crum and ex-UofL and Indiana University football coach Lee Corso.

Pitino is one of the few Division I college coaches in America — and maybe the only one — who still makes all of his players available to the media by opening the locker room, access that any writer or broadcaster will tell you is invaluable.

Rick Pitino shook hands with UK's John Calipari before and after Saturday's game, but he declined to appear before the media, something his contract requires (UK Athletics Photo)
Rick Pitino shook hands with UK’s John Calipari before and after Saturday’s game, but he declined to appear before the media, something his contract requires (UK Athletics Photo)

Even through the Karen Sypher mess and, early on, the recent stripper/sex scandal, Pitino had been available to answer questions. So I’m willing to cut him some slack, and so are most of my peers.

But his behavior recently has been inexcusable and a poor example of sportsmanship and personal responsibility, especially for a 63-year-old Hall of Fame coach. It’s true that Pitino is the worst loser I have ever been around, excluding Bob Knight, who is in a class by himself.

However, I have covered UofL sports and Pitino during his entire 15-year tenure at the school and I have never never seen him behave over a long period of time as he has this season in ducking post-game press conferences and occasionally his own post-game radio show. He has completely stopped conducting pre-game news conferences — or previews — which almost always produced news or insightful comments about his team and other issues.

Now Pitino is being criticized on two fronts, both by local and national media, for his actions following Saturday’s heated rivalry game in Rupp Arena. He allegedly made an obscene gesture to a fan while walking off the court after the game, then he skipped the post-game press conference, instead sending assistant coach Ralph Willard to answer questions outside the locker room.

Already, there are many people, in and out of the media, who believe Pitino shouldn’t even be coaching the Cardinals due to the ongoing NCAA and criminal investigations into alleged sex parties in Billy Minardi Hall, the basketball dorm.

Now this.

Todd Harris, a Kentucky fan and season ticket holder, told The Courier-Journal columnist Tim Sullivan that he was heckling Pitino as he made his way through the tunnel past Section 28 en route to the dressing room. Harris contends that Pitino clearly raised his hand in an obscene gesture.

“My wife asked, ‘Did he just flip you the bird?,'” Harris said. “It’s not a common practice for coaches to flip off fans.”

Video of the incident is inconclusive and in a text message to ESPN.com’s Dana O’Neil, Pitino denied he made an obscene gesture.

“No, I didn’t flip off the fans,” Pitino said in the text. “I was in the tunnel. People were yelling ugly, crude things that I didn’t like.”

But Pitino’s claim that he raised his hand to signify “We are No. 1” is weak. No. 1 in what? Not the nation. Not even in Kentucky, particularly after Saturday. Maybe he was signaling that he has one win over UK coach John Calipari — vs. eight losses. Not likely it was the latter, of course.

Whatever the case, the video has gone viral on social media and news outlets all over the country have posted it on their Websites.

If Pitino is innocent of “fingergate,” as Eric Crawford of WDRB.com described it, he certainly earned censure for refusing to answer questions from the media afterwards.

In a story headlined “Louisville’s Rick Pitino shows ugly side after loss to Kentucky,” Yahoo.com’s Pat Forde, who co-authored a book with Pitino and has been one of those in the media closest to the coach since his time at UK when Forde was with for the C-J, wrote that Pitino didn’t show an ounce of “grace and accountability.”

Forde added that sending Willard to meet the media “was a colossal copout.”

WDRB.com columnist Rick Bozich wrote that Calipari topped Pitino again, both on the scoreboard and in “Miss Manners’ competition.”

Bozich also called Pitino “adolescent” and praised Calipari as being “analytical, funny and gracious” in his post-game press conference.

Lexington Herald-Leader columnist John Clay said that Calipari took the high road, Pitino the low road.

And the New York Post, noting that “scores of critics” have ripped Pitino and believe he has let his 1-8 record against Calipari get into his head, wrote that, “Rick Pitino is one of college basketball’s winningest coaches, but he’s doing his best to be remembered as one of the game’s sorest losers.”

Hard to say what really happened with the one-finger salute accusation, although Pitino’s explanation doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But I’m with nearly everyone else in believing that Pitino was classless and cowardly by not facing up to questions about the game.

Calipari complimented Louisville. Pitino could have praised the Cardinals’ effort and their comeback from a 16-point second-half deficit, congratulated Calipari and his players and talked about his team’s bright future as ACC play begins.

Easy enough. Instead, he did a short interview with Bob Valvano on WHAS Radio, then was quickly out the door.

Pitino’s $6 million contract at UofL consists in part of over $1 million for fulfilling media reponsibilities that include his pre- and post-game radio shows, a TV show and post-game press conferences. At that salary, he needs to talk, win or lose. Too bad there’s not a clause allowing the university to dock his pay if he fails to meet those contractual demands.

The ACC has a rule requiring its coaches to attend post-game press conferences in an interview room, not outside the locker room as Pitino prefers on road games. That is, if he appears at all. It will be interesting to see how he handles the conference games. After all, the ACC also requires coaches to attend preseason media day activities, and Pitino skipped that in October.

Stay tuned.

Russ Brown covered University of Louisville athletics for over 30 years, including 15 for The Courier-Journal in Louisville. He is senior writer/editor for the Louisville SportsReport, which he helped found, and also writes for Cardinalsports.com. He covers Louisville men’s basketball and football as a KyForward correspondent.


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