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Christian Dawkins: Rick Pitino Has 'No Clue What’s Going On at His School'
Prior to his arrest, ex-Adidas consultant Christian Dawkins was caught on tape saying former Louisville coach "Rick Pitino may be the only person who doesn’t know what’s going on" when it came to what was happening in his program.
"Rick has no clue what’s going on at his school. Most of the bigger guys, they know," Dawkins said, according to The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach, in comments on an FBI-recorded video played Wednesday at the Manhattan federal court for the second college basketball bribery trial.
Pitino was fired by Louisville after his program was implicated in the FBI's multi-year probe into widespread bribery, wire fraud and corruption in college basketball recruiting. The coach is accused of facilitating a $100,000 payment to the family of Brian Bowen, a former Louisville commit who later transferred to South Carolina. Pitino has maintained his innocence throughout the aftermath of the investigation and his firing.
While Pitino initially said he was "finished with coaching" in September, he has ended up in Greece as the head coach of the EuroLeague’s Panathinaikos B.C. for what he calls a "short sabbatical."
Dawkins, along with ex-amateur league director Merl Code, are on trial this week. The two were already convicted in October on similar charges and were each sentenced to six months in prison. This time, the focus is on bribes to coaches instead of players' families.
During the trial's opening day Tuesday, witness Louis Martin Blazer said he paid football players from Michigan, North Carolina and Alabama, among other schools.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
