DUNKED

Louisville Coach Rick Pitino Fired Over Bribery Scandal

Was implicated in an FBI bust on bribery in college basketball programs.

The University of Louisville fired head basketball coach Rick Pitino after the school’s athletic board voted Monday that there is just cause to do so. Pitino was implicated in a bribery scheme in which college basketball programs allegedly paid promising high school players to attend their colleges. The famed coach claims he had no involvement in the scheme; he was previously suspended after an assistant coach paid strippers and sex workers to attend parties for the basketball team. After the bribery scandal, Pitino said he did not dispute the school’s right to fire him, but "vehemently reject[ed] its right to do so ‘for cause.’ I have given no ‘cause’ for termination of my contract."