Brendan Dunne 
Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino isn’t happy about the level of influence that Nike holds over the recruiting process. In an interview earlier today, Pitino spoke at lengths about the difficulties of recruiting on the AAU circuit as a coach at an adidas school, saying “What I personally don’t like is I can’t recruit a kid because he wears Nike on the AAU circuit.” On top of that, Pitino thinks that shoe companies in general need to have less influence over budding athletes, and that parents and coaches should once again become more central pillars of the process. Head to CBS Sports for the full breakdown and let us know your opinion on the matter.
Via CBS Sports
“Nobody wants to talk about it because it’s money-related,” Pitino said. “University of Louisville makes a lot of money from adidas, and other schools. But I think it needs to be cleaned up.”
“It’s a problem that is really prevalent in basketball right now,” Pitino said. “I’m sure the Nike coaches don’t feel that way cause they’re winning the battle.”
