Tom Jurich Fired as Louisville AD Amid FBI Probe

The University of Louisville fired Cardinals athletic director Tom Jurich on Wednesday following an FBI investigation into alleged widespread misconduct in college basketball. 

Jody Demling of Cardinal Authority passed along the news. Marcus Green of WDRB confirmed the school's board of trustees voted to remove him from the position after he was previously placed on administrative leave in late September.

Jurich's attorneys released a statement about the decision, per Green:

ABC News previously reported longtime Louisville head coach Rick Pitino was identified as "Coach-2" in federal documents related to the case. He allegedly worked with former ASM Sports agent Christian Dawkins to help funnel $100,000 to the family of prized recruit Brian Bowen.

A July meeting between Dawkins, Jonathan Brad Augustine, an AAU director based in Florida, and an undercover agent allegedly focused on how to get Bowen's family the money. Augustine reportedly mentioned Pitino's close ties to Adidas to help complete the deal, per ABC News.

"No one swings a bigger [expletive] than [Coach-2] at [Adidas], all [Coach-2] has to do is pick up the phone and call somebody [and say], 'These are my guys; they're taking care of us,'" he allegedly said.

The report noted the investigation also found Adidas executive Jim Gatto "spoke directly with Coach-2 multiple times" before Bowen committed to the Cardinals in early June.

Pitino denied the allegations in an interview with ESPN's Jay Bilas, saying he had "no knowledge" of any payments made to the prospect in exchange for a commitment. He also said he passed a lie detector test this month related to questions surrounding the scandal.

He was fired Monday by the university.

Jurich, who led the Louisville athletic department since October 1997, was not directly connected to the alleged payment scandal. He hired Pitino to take over the basketball program in 2001, a tenure that included both a national title in 2013, but also multiple off-court problems.

Alison Stemler, the fired AD's lawyer, previously sent a letter to the board of trustees saying, "There are no allegations of wrongdoing in other sports. There are no allegations that Tom was involved in any way or that Tom had any knowledge of NCAA compliance incidents."

Jurich held the same position at Colorado State University and Northern Arizona University before arriving to Louisville.

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