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Rick Pitino reiterated during an interview Tuesday morning on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” that he knew nothing about the allegations at Louisville and said he will be “totally vindicated.”
“In the end I think I’ll be totally vindicated and people will understand how it happened,” Pitino said.
Pitino also said that if Louisville AD Tom Jurich “thought for one second” that Pitino knew anything about the allegations, “I would’ve been gone a long time ago.”
Pitino didn’t really break any new ground in the interview but asserted once again that former Louisville staffer Andre McGee acted alone and that he urged McGee to come forward and tell the truth about the alleged sex parties for players and recruits orchestrated by Katina Powell in Billy Minardi Hall from 2010-14.
Pitino reiterated he had one phone exchange with McGee after the news broke, and also sent McGee a text.
“I’ll always love you but I want you to do one thing, just tell the truth,” Pitino told McGee. “Because there’s a criminal investigation going on right now, he can’t tell the truth right now.”
Pitino said he had several nephews who lived in Billy Minardi Hall and they were unaware of the alleged sex parties.
“At the time I had three nephews that lived in that dormitory,” he said. “…Right away I went to them and I said, ‘Did you ever see anything that went on in that dormitory?’ and they said, ‘Uncle Rick, if we saw anything we could come to you right away.'”
Pitino said he saw the dorm, built in honor of his late brother-in-law Minardi, who was killed in the 9/11 attacks, as a “sanctuary.”
“I didn’t say it didn’t take place,” he said. “What I did say was I have absolutely no knowledge. If someone broke a chair in that dormitory I would immediately go over there and get that chair fixed. That’s how much this dormitory meant to me. It was a sanctuary and it meant the world to me.”
Pitino also said he believes the allegations didn’t help Louisville in recruiting.
“It didn’t get us any recruit, a matter of fact it just damaged us,” he said.
Pitino reiterated how heartbroken he is for his team that it will miss the postseason because of the self-imposed postseason ban the school imposed.
“I’d work for free if we could have this NCAA Tournament for these guys,” he said.
Pitino repeated that the NCAA “system is broken” and that schools like Louisville and Syracuse should pay a financial penalty instead of forfeiting postseason games, which only impact current players and not those who were on campus when the allegations took place.
“If you have a team totally innocent of anything like this situation because of things that have gone on in the past I believe a heavy financial fine just like insider trading in the SEC should have been presented,” he said. “….I think that’s the way to do it.”
As for his own future, he said he has no plans to retire anytime soon, and certainly not because of these allegations and investigations.
“I hope that time doesn’t come for a long time for me,” he said. “..But it’s not gonna be because of this instance.”
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