Just about everyone at the ACC's basketball Media Day in Charlotte had something to say about the current situation in Louisville, including league commissioner John Swofford.
Here were his comments on the matter:
Q: Coach Pitino is not here today. Is it mandatory for coaches to attend and was he excused if it is, and what's your level of concern with the situation at Louisville right now.
SWOFFORD: In terms of Rick, yes in general it is mandatory for coaches to be here, but we did not feel it appropriate to try and stand in the way and negate legal counsel's advice that was given to the University of Louisville. We had discussions. Louisville knows that our strong preference is that all of our coaches be here. But these are extenuating circumstances, and I have to respect the legal advice that President Ramsey and the athletic director Tom Jurich and Coach Pitino were given. And we respect that.
Q: And your level of concern with Louisville?
SWOFFORD: Well, I think the first thing is that, and I think this is pretty obvious to any of us in the room, that what has been alleged has absolutely no place in college athletics, in any way, shape or form. There are multiple investigations going on to try and get to the truth of this issue. And I think we've all seen situations in recent years where things got out of hand in the wrong way initially, and then things turned out to be very different than what we thought or what appeared to be the case at the beginning. So I think we have to wait and see what comes out of the investigations, until we get to the truth of it, and then see. I have a lot of confidence in President Ramsey and Tom Jurich — and in Coach Pitino — so we'll just have to see how this plays out. But I think the fair thing to do is to wait and see how this plays out and where it ends. And that's exactly what's happening at this point in time.
