Read the debate intro and Sports Geek’s argument that Rick Pitino should be allowed to continue coaching at Louisville.
At best, Louisville men’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino is guilty of being a married man with children, who cheated on his wife, then paid $3000 to the woman he cheated with for “medical insurance”.
At worst, as Karen Sypher has alleged, Rick Pitino is guilty of rape, then forcing her to have an abortion against her will.
Now, University of Louisville president Dr. James Ramsey and athletic director Tom Jurich have a big decision to make, although as far as I’m concerned, the choice seems pretty clear. The decision is whether or not to enact the “morality” clause built into Pitino’s contract, which would allow the university to fire Pitino for his indiscretions.
The morality clause, as reported by ESPN.com writer Jemele Hill, states that Pitino’s contract can be terminated for “acts of moral depravity”, or for “disparaging media publicity of a material nature that damages the good name and reputation of employer or university, if such publicity is caused by employee’s willful misconduct that could objectively be anticipated to bring employee to public disrepute or scandal.”
In translation – If Pitino does something that reflects poorly on the University of Louisville, whether his actions are deemed as legal or not, he can be fired.
Bear in mind that a “morality clause” is not required by any legislative body to be included in a contract. If the university leaders truly do not care what Pitino does, as long as he is winning, then there is no need to include the specific documentation which highlights the moral and ethical expectations placed on him. They could have simply left that part of the contract out and said “Go win games. Don’t commit any crimes, and win games.” The fact that the morality clause WAS included in the contract implies, therefore, that the moral and ethical choices of Pitino DO matter to the university. Why else would they include those clauses in the contract if they did not intend to follow-through on them if violated?
Let’s go back, then, to the question posed by Loyal Homer – “SHOULD Louisville have shown Pitino the door?” The answer to that question is a resounding ‘YES’!
Sports Geek has mentioned the recruiting success of Pitino as a reason to keep him employed. What Sports Geek does not mention, though, is the recruiting success of the entire university.
Louisville is not a basketball team. Instead, it is a university that FIELDS a basketball team. The recruiting success to populate a basketball roster pales in comparison to the university’s overall recruiting needs. Pitino can be credited with 13 recruits to the University of Louisville, all for a program that generates approximately $25M in revenues. The University of Louisville as a school, however, is responsible for recruiting more than 22,000 students, all of whom generate more than $187M in tuition revenue.
It is a mistake to imply that Pitino’s actions (and the public reaction to his choices) will only impact the basketball program. The University of Louisville is first and foremost an institution of higher learning. That institution exists to create opportunities for people from ALL walks of life to have a more successful future. By allowing Pitino, as an ambassador of the university, to create this scandalous situation through an act of immoral adultery, and then remain employed without consequence, is to imply that the university condones his actions. And while there may be high school basketball players who don’t care what the university thinks about Pitino’s actions, I can assure you that there are THOUSANDS of parents of prospective students who DO care. Those students are MUCH more important to the university (at least they SHOULD be) than the 13 recruited by Rick Pitino.
In total, Louisville will generate more than $930M in revenue, with more than $880M coming from academic endeavors, and only $50M coming from the combined athletic department. It is Louisville’s responsibility to protect the full $930M, not just the $25M which is generated through the basketball program.
Unfortunately, as Jemele Hill points out in her Page2 article, the message that the University of Louisville will send by allowing Pitino to remain employed is that “…decency takes a backseat to victories and banners.” That ugly truth about the skewed priorities of society speaks to the heart of today’s debate. Pitino will receive a ‘get out of jail free’ card for his actions, when you and I both know that he would have been fired without question if he was a professor of geography, or if he was a .500 coach. Instead, Louisville will demonstrate the very shallow double-standard that exists in sports, enabling people to behave as if they are above the rules which govern the “common man”.
My plea to Louisville is to do what is right, not what they feel is profitable. There is more at stake here than selling basketball tickets. Rick Pitino is replaceable, reputation is not!
