The fallout continues from the FBI investigation into the world of collegiate basketball, where not only have four assistant coaches been arrested for their roles in the scandal, now a head coach has potentially lost his job. Rick Pitino, the Hall of Fame head coach of the University of Louisville, has been told he is being placed on administrative leave by the university, without pay. Pitino has been the head coach at Louisville since 2001 and has had stops at Hawaii, Syracuse, Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, and three stints in the NBA.

How does Pitino fit into the scandal?

As the head coach at Louisville, Rick Pitino is no stranger to scandals involving his program. But for the first time, a scandal that has reached his doorstep has actual consequences for Pitino. While was not specifically mentioned in the FBI documents released yesterday, the University of Louisville was mentioned as one of two universities that had tried to pay high-profile players to play for their school. In the FBI documents, Louisville was identified as "university-6," which was paying an unidentified player - "player-10" - and his family around $100,000 to come play at Louisville. Those payments, according to the documents, came from Adidas and either James Gatto and/or Mel Code, both of whom were arrested.

Both were employees of the same sporting company.

Steps being taken by the University of Louisville

To their credit, the University of Louisville did come out yesterday (9/26) to say they had been under investigation by the NCAA and the FBI. This was done without either the NCAA nor FBI uncovering that "university-6" had in fact been Louisville.

Earlier today (9/27), the university put both Rick Pitino and Athletic Director Tom Jurich on administrative leave, effective immediately (Jurich has been placed on paid leave though, while Pitino is not being paid during his time away). After this was announced at a press conference later today, Pitino's lawyer, Steve Pence, told reporters that his client had "essentially been fired."

This was a swift move by the university and the school's board of trustees, who unanimously voted to put both on administrative leave.

The school also announced that an interim AD and head coach were being searched for immediately, and the university hopes to fill both roles within the next 48 hours. The status of the basketball coaching staff, university officials say, will be up to the interim coach's decision.

Previous scandals involving Pitino

Rick Pitino is one of the best head coaches in college basketball history, and there's no denying it. He is the first and only coach to bring a national title to two different schools and has taken three schools to the NCAA Final Four. While he has not been the cleanest of coaches, as far as scandals go, he still was effective at the helm. His first scandal came over a decade ago when in 2003, he was accused of having sex with a waitress at a restaurant while he was married.

Pitino had to testify in 2010 as the woman was trying to extort him for money and gifts. The next scandal came in 2015 when then-assistant coach Andre McGee organized a sex-for-pay scandal involving recruits and prostitutes. The repercussions from that scandal may still be felt as it may cost the school their 2013 national title.

With the new scandal being called the worst scandal ever, the fallout for the University of Louisville and Rick Pitino may still come.
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