Louisville opens Atlantic Coast Conference play Sunday against Wake Forest and, after skipping his post-game press conference following a loss at Kentucky, Rick Pitino sounded off Friday about that decision, and the on-going investigation into his basketball program. “When we go into a press conference in a neighborhood like that I don’t want to hear about the scandal. That has bothered me every single night. What bothers me about you (directly comments towards Rick Bozich) is you say I know everybody’s body fat (I) must know about this. That pisses me off beyond your wildest dreams because that took place at Billy Minardi Hall and we didn’t get one recruit. “Somebody criminally came on to our campus. I’m pissed off at ESPN for even giving a forum to that person. I didn’t read the book so I only know what people tell me. If there are crimes committed why are ESPN or the NCAA giving a forum to that person? I don’t know if there are crimes being committed. “The NCAA is upset at me because I say I can’t find one person that knew anything about it. The NCAA says you’re intimidating the witnesses. That wasn’t my intent to say that. As soon as this happened I went ballistic on everybody. Wait a second, you didn’t know a thing, you didn’t know one single thing? To the security person, you never saw one single thing in four years and you worked around the clock? No. “Well the answer is obvious isn’t it? The reason that nobody saw anything they knew all hell would break loose if I found out one single thing was going on. That would be the obvious thing to me. I didn’t want to put myself in a press conference because I’m not going to say, ‘no comment.’ I’m too old. I don’t care. There’s only one good thing about being 63. You don’t care what people think anymore. “I’m totally compliant to the rules of the NCAA. I don’t believe in breaking any of those things, at all. If anything what was going on, if things did go on the way they said, we weren’t going to get one player. I still can’t figure out why this was being done? None of it makes sense to me. “When we went up there, when Kenny Klein and John Carnes went up there, to this book company to find out what’s going on they made a statement that was interesting. A statement was made, ‘You mean to tell me this person kept of four-year log and wrote a journal about this?’ ‘No, no, ‘we wrote it, she can’t complete two sentences to write a book.’ There was no four-year record that was kept. So ESPN doesn’t go after (her), ‘are you telling the truth?’ ‘Did you keep a four-year journal?’ ‘Or was it written just to get this book out?’ “I’m bothered by a lot when I go to bed because of my beliefs about how a program should be run. So I’m not sure a lot of these things are the truth. They’re saying she kept a journal for four-years but she can’t complete two sentences? Something’s not right here. I think you have to follow the money trail. And then 11 people are suing her saying that’s not the truth. I don’t know what’s going on with all this. “If I don’t want to do a press conference it’s because it’s a very emotional time. It’s not because I lost the game. I’ve done press conferences 40 something odd years. Give me a break that we lost the game. It’s not because of that. I’m not going to say, ‘no comment,’ at 63 years old. I want the truth and I want to clean it up..if something needs to be cleaned up. “I know why I didn’t find out about it. If a chair gets broken at Minardi Hall and I find out there’s going to be a problem. Something like that you can bet that I’d be the last guy to find out because all hell would (be) to pay, right away. The moment it happen all hell would be to pay. I feel the same way about my assistant coaches, they’re an extension of me. If they would have known anything all hell would have broken loose. “So in 2016 this will be the last time I mention it. I’m getting it off my chest now.” Pitino said he hasn’t been interviewed by the NCAA about the scandal. I think they’ve got to contact every recruit that’s ever come in here first,” Pitino said. “They still haven’t resolved North Carolina and how many years with Syracuse? I think the earliest you’re going to see anything resolved is in July.”
He has to understand that when you get caught banging a woman that isn't your wife then this happens you aren't going to get the benefit of the doubt. He is just lucky he is a great coach because anyone else would have been thrown out the door for yet another embarrassment
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Rick Pitino just called out ABC, ESPN, and the NCAA
Originally Posted by pavyracer
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