Former Louisville Cardinals basketball coach Rick Pitino has sued Adidas after his termination for alleged recruiting violations.
The legendary coach and the Cardinals were accused of funneling a recruit $100,000 in return for his commitment. Pitino has maintained his innocence and is now suing Adidas for allegedly funneling money to the recruit at the center of the storm that brought Louisville to its knees.
Pitino lawsuit against adidas asserts that adidas conspired to unlawfully send a recruit to Louisville without his knowledge. pic.twitter.com/s1ePaWqEqp
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 17, 2017
Adidas statement on Pitino suing company: “Mr. Pitino’s lawsuit is clearly a reaction to his termination yesterday and is without merit.”
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 17, 2017
Today, Rick Pitino has filed suit against Adidas America, Inc. and Adidas N. America, Inc. in U.S. District Court, W. District of Kentucky.
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) October 17, 2017
Pitino is owed tens of millions of dollars if it’s determined he was fired without cause. You can bet that Louisville will fight as hard as it can to make sure it’s determined Pitino was fired for cause, and that he knew what was going on.
If Rick Pitino is fired with cause, he will leave more than $55 million on the table.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 27, 2017
Pitino’s lawsuit could potentially prove in court that Adidas was responsible for the illegal payments, and he knew nothing. It’ll be wild if that happens because then the Cardinals might be on the hook for writing a massive check.
The discovery phase of this lawsuit is going to be epic.