At today’s Louisville Basketball Tipoff Luncheon at the Marriott Downtown, in front of 1,200 Louisville basketball fans, coach Rick Pitino made a great speech. Below are some quotes from that event.
“Now, I will say this to you. I’m going to try to get through this the right way, because the NCAA has not ordered me, but suggested to me, that I don’t say anything about anything. The great thing about that, I’m not going to media day, I get to avoid all these questions which people will ask. But I believe in a few things.”
“So I figure out, when times get tough, the why of it. I know the other side of the story. I know why they’re coming out with a book. And I know exactly why. On our end of the thing, I don’t get the why. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Now the difficult thing. The why part of it. And I don’t have any answers to it. I know as far as I’m concerned, every coach has rights and wrongs in their life. I do know one thing, every coach that sat next to me, some 20 young college and professional coaches, always knew what I was about, as far as NCAA rules were concerned. Every living room I visited, of every recruit, knew exactly where I stood with the rules of the NCAA. Every player I’ve ever coached, knew exactly where I stand. Because I believe in the rules. I believe when we compete, I want the same level playing field. And we believe we’re going to win for the reasons we set forth in practice, and everything should be level.”
“So when this came out, it hit us all, like a bombshell. Because I just don’t understand why. There’s a lot of ifs here, if it did happen. And the ifs are not being answered, they have to be answered by the NCAA. I immediately tried to contact every athlete that I knew. I told managers, over twenty of them, if one person of mine has a beer downtown, I hear about it the next day. And now not one manager, or anyone, will come forward and say they saw anything wrong. So I’m not allowed to talk to any players about it, not allowed to do any investigating on my own. Which is fine. But I do know this: If there was any wrongdoing — it’s a big if — and people have to pay for their crimes — and that’s an if — if it happens, we’ll all own up to it, and do the best we can under adverse situations. I hope those ifs are not true, because that building means a great deal to me. I’d have a very difficult time forgiving the people, if any of those ifs are true, and I’m a very forgiving person.”
“I’m not sure what the media is saying about me, except text messages I get all the time, saying, ‘Hang in there, I know it’s tough.’ Please stop texting me that, if you’re out there.”
“I had a friend, some people thought he blindsided me. He probably did. Very similar to President Obama being blindsided by Steve Kroft, I believe his name is, on a recent interview, 60 Minutes. They all said that was his friend. Well a person who blindsided me is my friend. First question he asked, and I was going on his show in tough times to be nice, he said, ‘Will you resign? Are you considering resigning?’ I said, ‘Well, hello to you too, Terry.’ In the end, I had no problem with it. Just like Steve Kroft had a job to do, so does he. His job was not to build me up in that moment. His job is to get to the truth. And that’s not what friends are for when you go on an interview, obviously.”
“But we will find the truth, whenever that may be. And people will pay the price of any wrongdoing that may occur. So I know the whys from the other end. Don’t know the why for our end. I still can’t figure it out. No matter how little sleep I get, no matter how much my mind wanders at night, I know what the University of Louisville is all about. I know what Tom Jurich is all about. And without being, praising and patronizing myself, as far as NCAA rules are about, I know what I’m all about. That One-Day Contract, the ability to look in the mirror and feel good about yourself, in 41 years of coaching, I feel great about myself.”
“Right now, I’m pretty fortunate. I’ve got about 1,200 great friends in this room. So I thank you all very much.”
Listen to the entire speech below, and then post a comment.
