Lobos coach Pitino relieved by inquiry's findings on his father, Louisville

Nov. 5—On Friday afternoon in the Rudy Davalos practice facility, the UNM Lobos were firmly locked in on game prep for Monday's season opener against the visiting Southern Utah Thunderbirds.

Thursday morning, head coach Richard Pitino, and most of the rest of college basketball around the country for that matter, took some time away from their regular routine to catch up on the news out of Louisville, Kentucky.

The second-year Lobos coach, admittedly, had more than just a passing interest in Thursday's news given his time as an assistant coach at Louisville working with his father, Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, who is now coaching at Iona.

Five years after federal investigators proclaimed having evidence of widespread corruption in college basketball, an independent panel all but cleared the University of Louisville of any wrongdoing and specifically did clear former Cardinals head coaches Rick Pitino and Chris Mack.

"The panel views this decision as exonerating both coaches," said David Benck, a member of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP).

The news means the Iona-UNM game set for Dec. 18 in the Pit, pitting father and son, will go on without the specter of a suspension in play.

"It was a big day for anybody impacted by that," Richard Pitino said in response to a Journal question about the ruling. "It was a great day for my father; was a great day for our family. That was a long five years and a lot of people were impacted. A lot of people lost their jobs, regardless of my dad or Tom Jurich (the former Louisville athletic director fired in the wake of the allegations), who are the high profile guys."

I asked @LoboCoachPitino about the big college basketball news of the week since he's obviously quite familiar with most everyone involved in the IARP's ruling on Thursday on @LouisvilleMBB and his father, @RealPitino. Most of his answer here: pic.twitter.com/AuCrSzEBKu

— Geoff Grammer (@GeoffGrammer) November 4, 2022

Federal prosecutors had alleged that Adidas representatives funneled $125,000 to a recruit's family to get him to attend the school. The NCAA in May 2020 accused Louisville of committing a Level I violation for an improper recruiting offer and several Level II violations.

Rick Pitino, never named in the federal complaint and denying involvement or knowledge from the start, was accused by the NCAA of failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance. The IARP concluded that was unfounded.

Richard Pitino added the news was "bittersweet" because, despite what some media penned Thursday, he considers what happened to Louisville and many of those involved anything but a mere slap on the wrist.

"I knew all along the truth," Richard Pitino said. "It's just the world that we live in where you read Twitter and so on. Everybody deals with it. People use the word 'exonerated.' He's not still the coach in Louisville and Tom Jurich isn't still the AD in Louisville. So, I don't know if exonerated is the right word. I don't think Louisville got a slap on the wrist like I read. If you look at Louisville's basketball program now, and I am pulling for them in such a big way, and (coach) Kenny Payne, I hope, can turn it around because he's the right guy for the job and Josh Heird, their AD, is the right guy for the job. But it's not the same at all."

While opinions may differ about the outcome, it's been pretty much a universal gripe for years that such matters with the NCAA simply linger too long and often end up with inequitable and uneven punishments.

"The process just needs to get quicker," Richard Pitino said. "I don't know what the answer is. I don't know why it's taking so long. ... Louisville will rebound, but that really took a toll on that place. My dad's fortunate because he's built up so much credibility in this profession. And he's, in my opinion — it's John Wooden 1, Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) 2, he's 3. ... And for him to be able to rebound from that is great, but not everybody can do that. ...

"The answer is getting the truth and holding people accountable. But we have to find a way to do it a little bit quicker."

The IARP was created out of proposals from a commission led by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2018 to reform college basketball. The panel's decision cannot be appealed.

UP NEXT: Monday, Southern Utah at UNM, 7 p.m., themw.com (stream), 770 AM/ 96.3 FM