Rick Pitino must really love Adidas.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, the scandal involving Pitino, Adidas, and the university, has been elevated to another level.
When the school and Adidas announced their $160 million, 10-year-deal back in August, former Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich said that the money was for the athletic department.
“It’s for these student-athletes. It’s been earmarked for them,” he said.
On Thursday, we found out the previous deal – which expires on July 1 – was one big pay day for Pitino.
According to the Courier-Journal, Pitino was receiving 98 percent of the money from the shoe company. In 2015-16, Pitino received $1.5 million under his personal services agreement, while only $25,000 went to the program. The year before that, Pitino received another $1.5 million, while the department only saw $10,000.
The way the new Adidas deal is set up, the program is scheduled to receive $79 million over 10 years, as well as apparel and shoes.
However, no one knows how much of the money is designated to go to coaches.
According to interim president Greg Postel, the school is deciding whether the Adidas deal is a good idea, given the current federal criminal complaint that is alleging that Adidas executives, sports agents and coaches worked together to pay top recruits to play at Adidas schools.
Pitino is supposedly the “Coach-2” mentioned in the explosive federal investigation into college basketball corruption, according to multiple reports — and the person who allegedly helped channel money to a recruit.
Authorities are alleging that Adidas executive James Gatto, along with others, was involved in funneling $100,000 to the family of a top recruit, who is believed to be Louisville’s Brian Bowen. Christian Dawkins, a former agent who’s been charged, told witness Marty Blazer that he helped to facilitate the Bowen deal “at the request of a coach,” records said. That coach is believed to be Pitino.
Pitino is a New York native and former Knicks coach who has won two NCAA titles. He was hired by Louisville in 2001.
No stranger to drama in the past, Pitino survived a federal extortion scandal in 2010, and was scheduled to serve a seven-game suspension this season despite denying he knew anything about a sex-for-pay scandal the NCAA uncovered.