Rick Pitino’s reputation — and future — are again in question
September 27, 2017 by admin
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During his time with Louisville, the Cardinals basketball coach Rick Pitino has survived multiple scandals.
In 2010, he testified in a federal extortion trial involving Karen Sypher, who went to prison after trying to get money and gifts from Pitino in exchange for silence.
NCAA coaches among 10 facing federal charges
Federal prosecutors have announced charges of fraud and corruption in college basketball. Among those arrested and charged are four assistant coaches at Auburn, Arizona, Oklahoma State and USC.
What you need to know about the FBI’s NCAA basketball investigation
Federal prosecutors stunned college basketball by announcing charges for four Division I coaches. Although the charges stem from a three-year investigation, much is still to be determined. Here’s what you need to know.
In 2015, the NCAA launched an investigation into a sex-for-pay scandal organized by former Louisville assistant coach Andre McGee that could force the Cardinals to vacate their 2013 national title and dozens of victories. For that, Pitino will serve a seven-game suspension this season. This all came after the school, hoping to soothe the NCAA and temper the sanctions, self-imposed a 2016 NCAA tournament ban.
Despite all this, Pitino kept his job.
But what was revealed Tuesday, if true, seems insurmountable.
The FBI arrested four prominent college basketball assistants from Oklahoma State, Auburn, Arizona and USC following an investigation surrounding a corruption scandal. Documents from the investigation cite an arrangement between an unnamed Louisville staffer, high-ranking Adidas official James Gatto and others to funnel $100,000 to the family of a recruit who committed to the university over the summer.
“Shortly after the agreement with the family of Player-10 was reached in late May and early June, Player-10 publicly committed to University-6,” the documents from the FBI’s investigation stated. Louisville revealed Tuesday afternoon that it is the unnamed “University-6″ named by the FBI.
“[Louisville] is committed to ethical behavior and adherence to NCAA rules,” interim president Gregory Postel said in a statement addressing the FBI’s investigation. “Any violations will not be tolerated.” Pitino is not named in the federal documents. But he’s the sullied leader of a program in the FBI’s crosshairs.
If the FBI’s allegations are validated, Louisville has only one option: Remove Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich.
Pitino is facing a federal organization that puts people in prison. That’s why his latest problem trumps the previous incidents tenfold.
“These allegations come as a complete shock to me,” Pitino said in a statement Tuesday night. “If true, I agree with the U.S. Attorneys Office that these third-party schemes, initiated by a few bad actors, operated to commit a fraud on the impacted universities and their basketball programs, including the University of Louisville. Our fans and supporters deserve better and I am committed to taking whatever steps are needed to ensure those responsible are held accountable. But the FBI and the United States Department of Justice have come to clean up the sport and the mess made by Louisville and other programs.”
Joon H. Kim, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, made it clear in his news conference that his office is coming for anyone attached to the pay-for-play scandal and will continue to pursue additional indictments.
“It’s better for you to call us than for us to be calling you when we’re ready to charge you,” Kim warned.
FBI assistant director Bill Sweeney doubled down.
“We have your playbook,” he said. “Our investigation is ongoing. We are conducting additional interviews as we speak.”
Years from now, this day may go down as the most crippling moment in the sport’s history.
What happened Tuesday, and what is likely to follow in the days ahead, could flatten college basketball. Every team in America, including Louisville, is asking the same question: How do we distance ourselves from this? Louisville’s sex-for-pay scandal led to a fine, the loss of scholarships, a suspension for Pitino, a 10-year show-cause penalty for McGee, vacated wins and a self-imposed postseason ban. Imagine what the FBI — and the NCAA investigation that will follow — will do to the program. The result could change Louisville forever.
In the Sypher case, Pitino reacted as the victim of an extortion scheme. Sypher ended up with a seven-year prison sentence.
In the pay-for-sex scandal, Pitino repeatedly told anyone who would listen he never knew McGee had arranged parties with strippers and escorts for Louisville’s top recruits and players.
After each of those incidents, Louisville stuck with Pitino despite the damage to the school’s reputation and the NCAA penalties — and the possibility of more NCAA penalties.
His resume and stature in the sport helped him keep his job, too. Pitino has won two national championships, reached seven Final Fours and won 770 games. He’s in the Hall of Fame.
If you just judge Pitino on his college accomplishments, only Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has a more stellar resume among active coaches.
His history, and his personality, have convinced those in power and the fan base to stick with him.
This is about more than Louisville now. This is potential prison time for those involved. This is cash bribes, wiretaps and federal investigators, which were all used to uncover the major corruption. This is a six-figure bribe allegedly arranged by multiple people to lure an elite prospect to Louisville.
The teams listed today might not recover for decades, if not longer. The sport may never recover.
They don’t care about Pitino’s Final Fours and national titles.
And that might make this Pitino’s last scandal.
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Sessions Calls for ‘Recommitment’ to Free Speech on Campus, Diving Into Debate
September 27, 2017 by admin
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But in weighing in on the Georgia lawsuit and in vowing to voice support in similar cases in coming weeks, Mr. Sessions drew on so-called statements of interest, a technique used aggressively by the Obama administration to push the boundaries of civil rights laws. They are a legal tool, historically reserved for matters of national security and diplomacy, used to interject the federal government in private disputes.
In the Georgia case, an evangelical Christian student sued administrators last year at Georgia Gwinnett College, a public institution, saying they had limited his ability to proselytize.
According to the lawsuit, the student, Chike Uzuegbunam, an undergraduate at the time, had distributed evangelical Christian materials outside the school library. The college’s administration stopped him because he was not within designated free-speech zones and had not obtained a permit.
Mr. Uzuegbunam later reserved a place outside the school’s food court, within a free-speech zone, and began “discussing the brevity of life and how all men and women have fallen short of God’s commands,” according to the lawsuit. After students complained, administrators said Mr. Uzuegbunam’s “open-air speaking” had disturbed the peace, and they restricted it.
Justice Department lawyers argued in the statement of interest that school administrators were unjustified in silencing Mr. Uzuegbunam simply because other students had been “uncomfortable.”
Casey Mattox, a senior lawyer at the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Mr. Uzuegbunam, said the Justice Department’s support was heartening.
“It’s a boost for the broader free speech movement that the federal government is taking First Amendment rights very seriously,” said Mr. Mattox, whose organization is also representing a student arrested last year for distributing copies of the Constitution on the campus of Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Mich.
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Mr. Sessions also mentioned that case in his remarks on Tuesday.
“The American university was once the center of academic freedom — a place of robust debate, a forum for the competition of ideas,” Mr. Sessions said. “But it is transforming into an echo chamber of political correctness and homogeneous thought, a shelter for fragile egos.”
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Condemning a violent protest at Middlebury College, in Middlebury, Vt., that this year shut down a speech by the author Charles Murray, Mr. Sessions noted that some of the dissenters had worn masks, “a common tactic also used by the detestable Ku Klux Klan.”
The debate about how to interpret the First Amendment on college campuses has divided university faculties, with some arguing for unrestricted speech, no matter how inflammatory, and others advocating boundaries be established in an age of internet trolling and cyberbullying.
At the University of California, Berkeley, the faculty is divided on the issue. Last week, a Free Speech Week event featuring the conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was canceled.
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Mr. Sessions invoked a recent appearance at Berkeley by the conservative writer Ben Shapiro, the former editor at large of Breitbart News, whom he described as a “Harvard trained lawyer who has been frequently targeted by anti-Semites for his Jewish faith, and who vigorously condemns hate speech on both the left and right.”
“To my knowledge,” Mr. Sessions said, “no one fainted, no one was unsafe.”
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at Berkeley and a First Amendment scholar, said he was pleased about Mr. Sessions’s advocacy for free speech. “I think it’s great that the attorney general of the United States is coming down on the side of free speech — I would hope liberals and conservatives can agree,” he said.
But Mr. Chemerinsky, who has co-written a new book, “Free Speech on Campus,” said he thought Mr. Sessions failed to fully consider the balance of freedom of expression with public safety.
“This university spent $600,000 to facilitate Ben Shapiro coming, and it was estimated if Milo Yiannopoulos came, it would cost $1 million,” he said. “It’s not sustainable for this campus on a weekly basis to facilitate free speech while protecting public safety. Where is that line to be drawn? It’s a really hard question.”
Further stoking the debate about First Amendment rights, Mr. Sessions joined Mr. Trump in criticizing professional athletes who have declined to stand for the national anthem to raise awareness of police brutality and racial injustice.
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“The president has free speech rights, too,” Mr. Sessions said in response to a question from the audience. “If they take a provocative act, they have a right to be condemned, and the president has a right to condemn them, and I would condemn their actions.”
Some dissenting students and faculty at Georgetown — where Tiffany Trump, the president’s youngest daughter, is newly enrolled in the law school — called the administration’s message inconsistent.
“There’s hypocrisy here,” said Peter B. Edelman, who teaches constitutional law at Georgetown. “Just as the president has shown a lack of respect for freedom of speech, the attorney general comes to make use of his freedom of speech at our law school.”
Mr. Sessions requested Tuesday’s appearance — the subject and time of which was chosen before Mr. Trump’s remarks about the N.F.L. — according to Randy Barnett, a professor of constitutional law who helped organize the event. Attendance was invitation-only, he said, in order to promote a “civil” tone.
Mr. Sessions urged the students to appreciate their ability to speak out. “As you exercise these rights, realize how precious, how rare and how fragile they are,” he said.
In “most societies throughout history,” he added, “openly criticizing the government or expressing unorthodox opinions could land you in jail, or worse.”
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