Rick Pitino has found himself in some hot water, boiling hot water. A few months ago, Karen Cunagin Sypher tried to extort $10 million from Rick Pitino and she was charged with a crime. In the process of investigating her, the police department interviewed Pitino and he sang like a cardinal.Apparently he did have an affair with her in 2003, even allegedly having sex at a bar. He then tried to shut her up by paying her $3,000 to get an abortion. It is pretty easy to imagine the backlash that he is about to receive, since he coaches in the Big East, but the university lies within SEC/Big Ten country, aka The Bible Belt.
Cunagin Sypher, who claimed that Pitino sexually assualted her, tried to extort money from Pitino. First she allegedly ask for $3,000 a month, but increased all the way up to paying for her kid’s tuition, two cars, house paid off, and $10 million. I thinks she missed a few steps in there. Pitino has been married since 1993 and I would assume that he wanted to keep this quiet. When Cunagin Sypher wanted to talk to Pitino back in 2003, they actually met at a strength and conditioning coach’s house. She didn’t know that person at the time, but she would later marry him. Really?! I think that is the strangest part of the whole story. They met because Pitino had an affair with her and in the process of trying to cover it up, they fell in love? Sounds like a really bad movie pitch.
I’m a Kentucky Wildcats basketball fan, I’m still a big Pitino fan, even though he’s coaching at Louisville. I’m far enough away from that area that I’ve never really had any beef with the Lou, my beef mostly lies with Indiana University. That’s beside the point, Pitino is going to get grilled when he plays out of conference games in the South.I can only imagine the type of security that they will need to confiscate signs when they playing UK.
Pitino is a grown man and is capable of mistakes. Everyone should know that who watched him coach the Celtics and aptly signed guys like Walter McCardy and Ron Mercer hoping that they would lead them to an NBA Championship. This will blow over once the news cycle ends, but he probably needs to come out and apologize and be done with it.
Here is my solution to the problem. Louisville get with the University of Florida and get Tim Tebow to go counsel Pitino, like Tony Dungy is counseling Michael Vick. I think it would be a good PR move, even though outrageous, it would work.