Rick Pitino is under scrutiny for the Louisville Adidas deal, after a report that most of the cash from the deal went straight into his pocket.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reported on Thursday that the suspended Louisville basketball coach had raked in approximately 98 percent of the money allocated to the school in the expiring deal with the shoe company.
A copy of the contract obtained by the Courier-Journal revealed that Pitino received $1.5 million under his personal services agreement with Adidas between 2015 and 2016.
Meanwhile a mere $25,000 was allegedly allocated to the university’s athletic program.
According to the documents, Pitino also cashed in $1.5 million the year prior while the athletic department received $10,000.
The Courier-Journal noted that, according to contractual agreements between Adidas and the university, money paid to coaches under personal service agreements is deducted from the amount allocated to the athletic program.
A new $160 million, 10-year deal between the clothing apparel and the University of Louisville was announced in late August and, according to Adidas spokesperson Katja Schreiber, featured different terms.
Schreiber told ESPN that a typical college deal allowed for the university to delegate the money provided by Adidas however, the new deal designated all cash to the school.
In her statement, Schreiber said this had been the intended plan all along and it was unclear why that was not made the case.
Louisville's interim president, Greg Postel, slammed athletic director Tom Jurich for not updating the athletic board about the school’s extended sponsorship with Adidas, per ESPN.
Jurich and Pitino were both on forced leave following a corruption and fraud scandal in which four NCAA basketball coaches and an Adidas manager face charges including using hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to influence athletes' choice of schools, shoe sponsors, agents.
On Monday Postel received authorization to begin the process of firing Pitino.
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