It’s interesting how our perception of people change after certain events or actions. If you asked someone on the street, especially a young person, who O.J. Simpson is, they would say something along the lines of “murderer” before they say anything about his football career. Many people know Simpson for the trial, but most forget he was a great running back who won the Heisman Trophy, the NFL MVP and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The same is true for guys like Harvey Weinstein. Most of us know him for the scores of sexual assault allegations. Very rarely will we talk about the critically acclaimed movies with which he’s been involved, such as “Pulp Fiction” or “The English Patient”. I’m not for a moment defending any of these people, but it is interesting how we identify people with their negative actions over their careers or achievements.
It’s also true for disgraced coaches like Rick Pitino. It was announced by the NCAA on Tuesday that the previous ruling on the Louisville Men’s basketball team had been upheld. This essentially means that all the sanctions passed down to Louisville are still to take effect. All of coach Pitino’s wins from 2011-2015 will be vacated, meaning that on paper they did not occur. This includes the 2012 Final Four appearance and the 2013 National Championship. Ironically enough, the losses will be intact for a college basketball program that is anything but.
Rick Pitino is objectively one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time, yet he will be remembered more for the strippers, sexual favors and money for recruits than he will for his wins.
I’m sure Rick Pitino is a compassionate human being that cared very deeply for the game of basketball and the development of his players both emotionally and athletically. Ultimately though, his desire to win and make money consumed him and his ability to play by the rules. He has shown a lack of honesty, integrity and respect for the game and the NCAA, and in the end, that will be his defining characteristics.
If there’s one thing that this scandal (and this era of scandal in general) has taught me, it’s that a person’s successes and achievements no longer matter once you fall from grace. It’s your failures and your wrongdoings that define who you are in the eyes of the public. Now when we speak of Rick Pitino, we will remember him as the dirty coach with the dirty program that paid players and recruited them with sex. It’s a disappointing way to look at someone who seemingly gave so much to college basketball.
