Sports

Dick Vitale Says NCAA Coaches Exposed In FBI Probe ‘Must Be Fired’

(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Font Size:

As soon as the news broke that at least four NCAA coaches were subject of an FBI investigation into fraud and corruption, legendary college basketball analyst Dick Vitale joined the conversation.

Ole Dickie V might be 78 years old, but that didn’t stop him from firing off a day-long tweet storm on the biggest news in basketball and calling for coaches involved to be fired.

“As a guy who LOVES college basketball this NEWS is heartbreaking!” Vitale started off.

“This is the @FBI involved not just @NCAA,” he continued. “If any of head coaches were AWARE of the situation it would be a nightmare!”

Not only did the ESPN broadcaster go off on social media, but he also made his opinion known in a video that he shared on his Instagram account.

A post shared by Dick Vitale (@dickiev_espn) on

“There’s a cesspool that’s existing in college basketball and on the scholastic level,” Vitale said, blasting the NCAA eligibility requirements and AAU basketball.

“Think about it. We have players gaining eligibility, all of a sudden reclassifying and becoming unbelievable Rhodes Scholars. We have scenarios in the AAU competition–the stories are unbelievable–how these AAU situations are out of hand.”

While Vitale did point out that everyone is “certainly innocent until proven guilty,” he said that any coach with knowledge of what was going on “MUST BE FIRED.”

On Tuesday the FBI announced the findings from an NCAA investigation, which resulted in charges against four assistant coaches for fraud and corruption. The federal criminal complaints also identified Louisville for participating in a scheme that resulted in Adidas paying an All-America high school recruit.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino is believed to be involved with the scheme at some level.