Heads have begun to roll at Louisville in the wake of Tuesday’s bombshell FBI announcement that several college basketball programs are being investigated for fraud and corruption. Athletic director Tom Jurich was reportedly the first to go, and Rick Pitino is expected to join him.
According to multiple reports, Jurich met with Louisville interim president Greg Postel on Wednesday morning and was relieved of his duties. Card Chronicle was told by a source that Postel asked Jurich to resign, but he refused.
Louisville has announced it will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EST, and neither Jurich nor Pitino are expected to attend.
UL president Gregory Postel just told us that there will be a press conference at 1 ET. Said Jurich and Pitino will not attend.
— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) September 27, 2017
Four college assistant coaches (none from Louisville) were among the 10 people arrested Tuesday for their alleged involvement in a massive bribery scheme in which Jim Gatto, director of global marketing for Adidas Basketball, paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to funnel top recruits to Adidas-sponsored programs. Interestingly enough, Grace Schneider of the Courier-Journal has learned that Jurich’s daughter, Haley Jurich, works for Adidas as a brand manager.
Haley Jurich’s social media profiles indicate that she joined Adidas as NCAA brand communications manager back in March.
“I am thrilled to announce that having been an Adidas advocate at such an early age and being an Adidas student-athlete, I have just accepted a position with Adidas-brand communication manager at the University of Louisville. #Adidas #CreateYours #L1C4 #The Ville,” she wrote in a March 31 Facebook post.
FBI indictments that were unsealed on Tuesday claimed an Adidas executive conspired to pay $100,000 to the family of a top recruit — believed to be Brian Bowen — to convince the player to commit to Louisville and represent Adidas when he turned pro. Bowen’s mother said she has no knowledge of any payments or illegal activity.
After Bowen committed to the Cardinals in June, Pitino said the school “got lucky” and that he has never had a five-star recruit fall into his lap the way Bowen did in his 40 years of coaching.
Louisville is already on probation stemming from a prostitution scandal involving recruits. Any sanctions they face from the latest scandal could be devastating to the program.
