The Rick Pitino affair would be sensational and salacious enough if it were just about a high-profile college basketball coach who cheated on his wife. But the Rick Pitino affair is much more than your standard extramarital affair scandal. No, the Rick Pitino affair is much more salacious, much more prurient, much more full of shocking details than a standard- issue scandal. And that is why the Rick Pitino affair might cost Rick Pitino his job.
Consider the details surrounding the Rick Pitino affair:
University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino met Karen Sypher (at the time her name was Karen Cunagin) at Porcini, a high-end restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 1, 2003. After the restaurant closed, Rick Pitino and Karen Sypher had sex on or near a table in the restaurant. According to the Courier-Journal, Vinny Tatum, Pitino’s executive assistant, was there. And while Tatum didn’t see Pitino and Sypher having sex, he told police that he heard “only the sounds of two people that seemed to be enjoying themselves during a sexual encounter.”
Karen Sypher called Rick Pitino a couple of weeks after the encounter and informed him that she was pregnant. She told him that she wanted to get an abortion but didn’t have health insurance. Reportedly, Rick Pitino gave her $3,000 for the abortion.
Sypher claims that Pitino raper her (during the above-noted encounter at Porcini and on one other occasion). Pitino emphatically denies these allegations. After reviewing the charges, authorities concluded that there is insufficient evidence to charge Pitino with rape.
In addition, Sypher allegedly attempted to extort $10 million from Pitino (a classic case of trying to sell one’s silence). As a result of the above-noted actions, Sypher is now facing federal charges of lying to the FBI and trying to extort money from Pitino.
It is important to note that Rick Pitino is a devout Roman Catholic. Catholics consider abortion to be a mortal sin. Thus, it is not surprising that Pitino’s lawyer says that the $3,000 Pitino gave Sypher was not specifically for an abortion, but to get health coverage.
But lawyers are known for prevaricating. That seems to be their job. And, according to Pitino’s statement to the Louisville Metro Police on July 12 — a statement obtained by the the Courier-Journal under the Kentucky Open Records Act – he specifically gave Sypher the money so that she could get an abortion.
So we seem to have a contradiction here.
And when you consider the terms of Rick Pitino’s contract with The University of Kentucky, it makes sense that Pitino is trying to backpedal, to say that he did not sanction Karen Sypher’s abortion.
Pitino’s contract stipulates that he can be terminated for “Just Cause.” And “Just Cause, ” according to Pitino’s contract, includes the following:
“Disparaging media publicity of a material nature that damages the good name and reputation of Employer or University, is such publicity is caused by Employee’s willful misconduct that could be objectively be anticipated to to bring employee into public disrepute or scandal, or which tends to greatly offend the public or any class thereof on the basis of invidious distinction.”
Rick Pitino’s conduct would be highly offensive to the public – which includes millions of Catholics – if it were just limited to cheating on his wife. But if Rich Pitino — a man who purports to be a devout Catholic – paid for a woman to abort his baby it could cause such an uproar that the University of Louisville will have no choice but to terminate him.
Souces:
Andrew Wolfson, Pitino told police he had consensual sex with Sypher, Courier-Journal
Rick Pitino’s employment contract, The Courier-Journal
