Rick Pitino & Tom Jurich Release Statements

Mark BlankenbakerOctober 20, 2015

Rick Pitino told a group of reporters “The NCAA has asked me not to comment on this matter and I will abide by it. But I will say one thing…..I don’t know if any of this is true or not. There’s only one person who knows the truth and he needs to come out and tell the truth to his teammates, to the University of Louisville, to his fans and to his coaches that have taught him to do the right thing for years and allowed him to be part of something special here. He’s the only one with any answers.”

Pitino continued: “Whether it is true or not, I don’t know. I spoke to my nephew who lived in Minardi Hall, lived in the dorm, and he said he never saw anything the entire time he lived there. Obviously by what people are saying, something did go on but there’s only one person who knows the truth. Everything else is absurd. I don’t care about the legal issues. If he’s done something wrong, he has to own up to it and do his penance.”

Rick went on to say: ‘We know on the other end of the book, this is all about money. People will say and do anything for money. If these things are not true, and I keep using the word ‘if’, there’s only one person who can give these solution to these problem. It’s Andre McGee. It’s time to give back to this team, his university and coaches and tell the NCAA the truth and tell everyone else who was at one time very proud of him the truth. He owes that to his parents, to his university, to his teammates and his coaches.’

Lastly Pitino said, “This is not only an NCAA issue here. It’s more than that. There’s more to it. His teammates that believed in him, his coaches that believed in him, the community that believed in him, put our trust in him to do that right things. If he’s done the wrong, he needs to own up to it. If he hasn’t, he needs to say it’s a lie. But the truth ahs to come out and it can’t be to just the NCAA. I talked to him one time and screaming so loud at him, his only response I got was he never paid any money for anything.”

Tom Jurich told Andy Katz: “Coach Pitino has no plans to step down and he absolutely didn’t know about the allegations.”