Rick Pitino's denials supported by new evidence in college basketball trial

On the eve of an evidentiary hearing in his lawsuit against the University of Louisville Athletic Association, Rick Pitino’s denials became more plausible Wednesday.  

A 2017 surveillance video introduced at the second trial resulting from the FBI’s investigation of corruption in college basketball captures go-between Christian Dawkins saying, “Rick Pitino may be the only person who doesn’t know what’s going on. Like, Rick has no clue what’s going on at his school. But most bigger guys, they know.”

For the 18 months since his firing by Louisville, Pitino has maintained his personal innocence in the alleged bribery scheme behind the recruitment of McDonald’s All-American Brian Bowen, a scheme in which Dawkins and two of Pitino's former assistant coaches have been implicated.

Mistake:UCLA missed chance to get best available coach – Pitino

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Pitino has blamed the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for including his name in a criminal complaint for the purposes of publicity and for inflicting collateral damage that has left him “dead in the water” as a college basketball coach.

"(If) a polygraph is not good enough, people under oath is not good enough, 20-plus assistants is not good enough, then nothing is," Pitino said via text message last month. "The Southern District of New York used me for publicity, the University of Louisville buried a Hall of Fame career. Let me rest in peace. Please, you have killed enough of my life."

Speaking Wednesday from Greece, where his Athens-based Panathinaikos team was eliminated from the EuroLeague playoffs on Tuesday, Pitino declined comment on the Dawkins’ video. But members of his inner circle privately expressed frustration that federal prosecutors had withheld recordings consistent with Pitino’s claims as he lost his job at Louisville and struggled to find work in his home country.

Dawkins, who was sentenced to six months in prison last month for wire fraud and conspiracy in the earlier basketball trial, was recorded in conversation with cooperating witness Marty Blazer, a former financial advisor, on a yacht in New York’s Battery Park on June 6, 2017. His characterization of Pitino being out of the loop on recruiting irregularities was in stark contrast with his description of Arizona coach Sean Miller, who “has to know everything that’s going on. I can call Sean and have a conversation like, ‘This is what’s going on. Like, this is what’s needing to be done.’“

Blazer, testifying under oath, said “I understood him to mean that Sean Miller was talking about inappropriate things with recruiting, paying the money and those sort of things. ... Sean Miller was taking care of everything for (2018 No. 1 NBA draft choice) Deandre Ayton and his family.”

Unlike Pitino, Miller has managed to keep his job, though Wednesday’s developments prompted defense attorneys to promise to file a motion asking Judge Edgardo Ramos to reconsider his decision to spare Miller from testifying in the trial.

What impact the new evidence might have on Pitino’s breach-of-contract suit is speculative, but its timing is convenient. District Judge David J. Hale has scheduled a hearing for 2:30 p.m. Thursday to consider ULAA’s motion for summary judgment.  

ULAA attorney Barbara Edelman said she was unaware of the Dawkins’ recording aired Wednesday. Another recording, played at Dawkins’ earlier trial, was less definitive.

“If you ask Rick Pitino if he knows what happened (with Bowen), he’d say he doesn’t know,” former Adidas consultant Merl Code said.

“He probably doesn’t,” Dawkins replied.

“He does know some,” Code responded. “He doesn’t know everything ... plausible deniability.”