More On Rick Pitino's Affair With Karen Sypher: Let's Re-focus On The REAL Culprit And Alleged Criminal, Karen Sypher.

Pitino apologizes for affair
U o f L coach won't resign, gets school's backing
By Andrew Wolfson

University of Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino apologized Wednesday to his family, the university, his players and fans for what he called his “indiscretion” six years ago, when he had sex with a woman in a Louisville restaurant.

But speaking during a late-afternoon news conference, Pitino said he had no plans to resign, and UofL President James Ramsey and Athletic Director Tom Jurich said in prepared statements afterward that they support him.

Ramsey said Pitino has “clearly made errors of judgment" and “they have saddened and disappointed me.” But Ramsey added that “as we try to teach our students, when you make a mistake, you admit it and right it as best you can. Coach has done that today.”

Ramsey said he hoped Pitino's apology “closes this chapter,” adding, “we're all ready to move on.”

In a separate statement, Jurich said he was “a million percent behind Pitino,” and he expects him to remain head coach “for a long time.”

Earlier in the day, Ramsey had declined to discuss Pitino's fate or elaborate on his statement that he found some details disclosed Tuesday night by The Courier-Journal to be “surprising.”

Citing police records obtained under the Kentucky open-records act, the newspaper reported that Pitino told police that he engaged in consensual sex with Karen Cunagin Sypher in a Louisville restaurant on Aug. 1, 2003, and later gave her $3,000 after she said she wanted to have an abortion but had no insurance.

Sypher had filed a complaint with Louisville Metro Police in July, alleging that Pitino had raped her at Porcini Restaurant on Frankfort Avenue on Aug. 1, 2003, and sexually assaulted her again a few weeks later. She made those allegations after she was indicted in May on federal charges of conspiring to extort money from Pitino in exchange for her silence.

Pitino, 56, denied Sypher's allegations, and the commonwealth's attorney's office announced last month that her complaint would not be prosecuted because her claims lacked credibility and any supporting evidence.

Speaking at a televised news conference at UofL's Yum! Center on Wednesday afternoon, Pitino said he made “a very difficult decision” seven months ago, when he reported his allegation of extortion to the FBI, “to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, the university officials and most importantly, the people that love me the most: my family and friends.”

Pitino said he had let down his family, including his “extended family” of players and fans.

He apologized to his wife, Joanne; to the reporters who cover the university; and to Ramsey and Jurich.

Contract contains morals clause

Under his contract, Pitino will collect a $3.6 million bonus if he is still coach on July 1, 2010.

That contract allows him to be fired for acts of “moral depravity,” or for being dishonest with the university, or for generating disparaging media publicity, if it is caused by “willful conduct that could objectively be determined to bring (the) employee into public dispute or scandal.”

So-called “morals clauses” are common in contracts of college coaches, and allows them to be fired for inappropriate conduct that is not necessarily criminal, such as visiting a topless bar. That act, for example, led to former Alabama football coach Mike Price's dismissal in 2003 before he ever coached a game for the university.

While an extramarital affair alone is unlikely to trigger a morals clause, giving money for an abortion and being less than completely forthcoming with the university “might be enough,” said Brian Socolow, a New York sports attorney who has written on the subject.

“Coach Pitino may be in some danger,” he said.

Trustee offers backing

U of L Trustee Bill Stone, who also serves on the UofL Athletic Association board, said he would support the university's decision on Pitino, but his opinion is that “a man deserves to be judged on the totality of his life.” Stone, one of the few trustees who would comment Wednesday, also said Pitino has been “a positive influence on the young people and the communities where he has been employed.”

Ryan Taylor, a 6-foot-6 forward from Indianapolis Lawrence North High School who verbally committed to UofL for the 2011 class, said he was glad Pitino would remain at the university. He said Pitino and his staff warned him in the spring that an ugly side of the extortion case could be revealed. “I was glad they told me up front so later on, if it came out it, it wouldn't be a shock to me,” Taylor said.

Shawn Teague, the father of U of L's top Class of 2011 recruit, Marquis Teague, said the recent events surrounding Pitino haven't affected the recruitment of his son.

The younger Teague is considered one of the top five prospects nationally in his class and is a point guard for Indianapolis Pike High School. The elder Teague played for Pitino at Boston University.

“It hasn't changed a thing for us,” Shawn Teague said. “Of course, I want to see some things fall out a little bit more. Things happen and things can change — even with this situation — and we still have to look to see if anything is going to happen as a result of what did happen. But in terms of who Rick Pitino is and how I feel about him and how my family and Marquis feel about him, there's no change in that whatsoever.”

But basketball fan Sean Keith, who was visiting Wednesday from Boston, where Pitino coached the Celtics in the National Basketball Association, said the coach should be held to a high standard because he knew he was in the public eye.

“If I went and did some of the things that celebrities do ... I wouldn't have a job,” Keith said.

Pitino's lawyer, Steve Pence, who had previously said that his client would “work though this matter privately with his family,” had no additional comment yesterday, other than to challenge the newspaper's wording about money Pitino gave to Sypher after he said she told him she was going to have an abortion.

According to a report from Metro Police Sgt. Andy Abbott, commander of the sex offense unit, Pitino told him that after Sypher said she was going to have an abortion, and told him she did not have insurance, Pitino “asked how much it would cost” and “she gave him the figure of $3,000, which he gave to her.” Pitino said she "then went to counseling, and then had an abortion,” the report continues.

During Wednesday's press conference, Pitino said he would continue to coach at UofL “as long as they have me. I am not a spring chicken,” he said. “But I am not over the hill.”

Pitino left without taking questions.

Joanne Pitino, who has been married to Rick Pitino since 1976, has an unlisted telephone number at the home they share in Louisville and could not be reached for comment.

Robert Irvine, the retired founder of the Louisville-based Institute for Crisis Management, said in an interview earlier in the day that Pitino needed to make a quick public apology, and that Ramsey had to publicly share his disappointment in Pitino's conduct.

“Pitino is a nationally known public figure and knew he is watched closely,” Irvine said. “He should have known better than to get himself into a compromising position.”

In a blog yesterday, Martin Cothran, a lobbyist for the Family Foundation of Kentucky who has in the past advocated against abortion and same-sex marriage, called for the university to fire Pitino.

There are “two issues here,” Cothran said in an interview. “One is, are we holding Rick Pitino to a lower moral standard than we do student athletes? ... We suspend people from teams for bar fights. We fire high school coaches for unintentionally causing the deaths of others. What we have in this case is somebody who intentionally acted to end a human life.”

Disclosures might affect trial

Criminal defense lawyers yesterday said that the disclosures wouldn't have any direct impact of the prosecution of the federal extortion case against Sypher, which hasn't been set for trial. She also is charged with lying to the FBI, and has pleaded not guilty.

But the disclosures could affect Sypher's position as she and her lawyer try to negotiate a plea bargain, said Brian Butler, a former state and federal prosecutor.

“The public scorn and damage to Coach Pitino's reputation from these revelations would have been an enormous incentive for Coach Pitino to encourage the United States to settle to save him from these disclosures,” Butler said.

But if the case goes to trial, he said, “It may marginally help Sypher because this information has certainly impacted how many, if not most, in the community view Coach Pitino.”

Sypher's court-appointed lawyer, James Earhart, said in an interview that “part of the truth has come out. We look forward to present the rest.”

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189.

Reporters Peter Smith, C.L. Brown and Nancy Rodriguez contributed to this report.