Pitino rips NCAA enforcement staff: ‘It’s a joke’
With legal disagreements escalating over making use of name, image and likeness compensation in the recruitment of college professional athletes, Hall of Popularity basketball coach Rick Pitino believes it’s time for the NCAA to stand down when it concerns policing member schools.
“It’s a really challenging time in college basketball, due to the fact that it’s totally free company,” the first-year St. John’s coach said Saturday. “And now I think what’s going to take place is, they’re going to state everybody can transfer, and after that if they do not like it, they’re going to take ’em to court.
“So I think the NCAA enforcement staff just need to be dissolved. It’s a joke. Not because I dislike them. However they’re of no value any longer. Due to the fact that just, Tennessee now will take ’em to court, Virginia will take ’em to court.”
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1 Related The attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia submitted an antitrust claim against the NCAA on Wednesday that challenged its ban on the use of NIL compensation in recruiting and in action to the association’s examination of the University of Tennessee.A judge will hear their demand Feb. 13 for an initial injunction that would postpone NCAA rules prohibiting hiring inducements and pay-for-play, the court posted Friday.The NCAA, on the other hand, asked a judge to deny both movements in its 25-page response filed Saturday with the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Tennessee.Pitino, 71, offered his thoughts on the NCAA following his group’s 77-64 loss to
top-ranked UConn at Madison Square Garden. His remarks came at the postgame news conference in response to a press reporter’s concern about stoking a restored rivalry with the powerhouse Huskies, the protecting national champions, as he reconstructs the St. John’s program.”The enforcement staff needs to go away,”Pitino said.”We require to stop all the hypocrisy of NIL.
We need to stop it. Due to the fact that they can’t stop it. Whether I’m for it or against it doesn’t matter. “They are expert athletes. Get professionally paid. It’s not disappearing. You can’t attempt to get loopholes, due to the fact that they take you to court. That’s why I say– so I’m not knocking the enforcement staff– they’re going to get taken to court whenever they attempt to make a guideline. So it’s a bumpy ride in college basketball right now. And for us, you can’t really develop programs and a culture due to the fact that everybody leaves.” Pitino, who won championship games at Kentucky in 1996 and Louisville in 2013, has had his history of encounters with the NCAA.The title at Louisville was left for NCAA infractions, and another NCAA case related to the FBI’s examination into corruption in college basketball recruiting resulted in him
being fired by Louisville in 2017. The final ruling from the NCAA’s outdoors enforcement arm on the FBI case boiled down in November 2022 and exonerated Pitino.After leaving Iona in March 2023 to take the St. John’s job, Pitino brought in 12 brand-new players for this season, including 10 transfers. But he stated the current college landscape involving NIL and the transfer portal makes it “really difficult”to construct a constant culture at a high-level program.” I believe numerous football coaches are going out, many basketball coaches are getting out, because of this culture,” Pitino stated. “It’s tough to build a program. You’ve got to truly innovate, get imaginative and understand these rules right
now– or lack of rules.”Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.