Former University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino knew about — and participated in — payments to recruit Brian Bowen, according to a new federal indictment against Adidas executive Jim Gatto.
In the indictment, the FBI recorded and videotaped a meeting between a Louisville assistant coach and former AAU basketball coach Christian Dawkins, in which the two agreed to pay Bowen’s family.
The indictment reads:
At that meeting, and in the presence of Coach-1, an envelope containing approximately $12,700 in cash was handed to CC-2, which was intended to be funneled to the family of the athlete. During the same meeting, DAWKINS described the role of another men’s basketball coach at the University of Louisville (“Coach-2”) in securing money from Company-1 to pay the student athlete, as part of the scheme described in paragraphs 24 through 26 above. Specifically, DAWKINS explained that while Coach-2 and the University of Louisville were recruiting the student-athlete, DAWKINS asked Coach-2 to call JAMES GATTO a/k/a “Jim,” the defendant, to request that Company-1 provide the money requested by the family of the student-athlete, which Coach-2 agreed to do.
Coach-2, in this case, is reportedly Pitino.
In September, the FBI arrested 10 men — including four college basketball coaches — in a corruption scheme.
Pitino was placed on leave, then fired. He has maintained his innocence, telling ESPN he had no previous knowledge of the scheme.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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