Sneaker News 
Rick Pitino, the Louisville head coach that is currently suspended amid the NCAA basketball bribery scandal that made headlines a week ago, was reportedly paid 98% of Louisville’s contract with sports apparel giant adidas, according to the Courier Journal. In 2015-2016 season, Pitino got $1.5 million while the athlete department took in a measly $10,000. On August 25th, the University of Louisville athletic department reported a ten year, $160 million deal with adidas, so if those percentages remain true to his previous payout rates, Pitino would’ve raked in $156.8 million over the next ten years.
Louisville’s defense of this payout to its soon-to-be former coach is that many of the school’s top recruits commit to the program because of Rick Pitino’s influence. Pitino also had his own contract with adidas before the Louisville athletic program struck the massive $160 million deal. Tom Jurich, the assistant coach that has met the same fate as Pitino after the scandal made news, said that the deal with adidas was “for the athletic department” and that the money is “for the student athletes. It’s been earmarked for them.”
Every major sports school in the nation has some sort of deal with a sportswear brand. While it is likely that other notable coaches with as much influence as Pitino do perhaps get a cut of these big deals, this particular case is even harder to swallow given Pitino’s role in the bribery scandal. adidas Basketball director of Global Marketing Jim Gatto was charged by the FBI for playing a role in bribing players to sign with certain schools and with adidas once they reached NBA.
