(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Basketball season ended with a thud in Louisville when the Cardinals went down 64-52 to the Michigan State Spartans in the Elite Eight, but the biggest developments have yet to happen.
Saturday, news was released from the University of Louisville that basketball coach Rick Pitino had reported an extortion attempt to the FBI in March of 2009, saying he intends to “vigorously defend [his] reputation and the character of [his] family against any criminal scheme to extort money.”
The facts are short and the rumors numerous.
Reports say the extortion attempt could go as far as being a form of blackmail intended to squeeze money from Pitino in an attempt to hold his family together.
Original articles from Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman named the wife of a Louisville equipment manager as the “other woman” in Pitino’s life (and her name isn't Patty Swope).
“According to sources close to the situation, Karen Sypher, the wife of Louisville equipment manager Tim Sypher, has tried to extort millions,” Goodman wrote.
In Pitino’s release, the eighth-year coach at Louisville attempted to put those rumors down—although not in direct fashion.
“While I did not want to make this matter public, I recently learned that the individual behind this extortion attempt has already gone to the media with false, defamatory and outrageous allegations in an attempt to pressure me to cave in to this scheme,” Pitino said.
Since publishing, the rumors in Goodman’s story have been pulled, but the damage is done. Rumors are swirling, with a local Fox affiliate reportedly pulling an interview of their own with Karen Sypher.
Call that the pressure, and Sypher the instigator.
These developments come on the heels of Pitino’s denial of a coaching move to Arizona, then his son Richard’s lateral transfer from working on the bench at Louisville to Florida this week.
Why Richard would move out from the guidance of his father was unknown. Extortion charges could be the reason.
As for why Pitino would stick at Louisville (besides common sense), the support of the Cardinal family and university president Dr. James Ramsey through the rough patch could have swayed the tide.
“We stand by his decision to report this matter to the authorities and will now leave this criminal investigation in the hands of the FBI,” Ramsey said.
Pitino reported the extortion attempt to the FBI in March, before the Arizona rumors began, before Louisville was ousted from the tournament, and before his son Richard left the bench behind him.
There’s no doubt Richard knew of the extortion attempt. Whether his move to Florida was running for a reason, and attempt to dodge a problem, or just in hope to move out of his father’s shadow, it wasn’t a good thing in the broader scope of the FBI investigation about the ensue.
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