The Last Temptation of Rick Pitino

A Story of Corruption, Scandal, and the Big Business of College Basketball

By: Michael Sokolove

Narrated by: Joshua Kane

Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

From acclaimed New York Times Magazine author Michael Sokolove, the astonishing inside story of the epic corruption scandal that has rocked the NCAA and exposed the rot and hypocrisy at the heart of big-time college sports.

At a lavish annual event in late August 2017, the University of Louisville athletic director, who made more than five million dollars in compensation in 2016, announced an extension of his school's sponsorship deal with Adidas: $160 million for another 10 years. The invitees were city's gentry - horse breeders, bourbon distillers, partners at big law firms, the state's governor, Matt Bevin, and its most powerful politician, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. One month later, the FBI revealed it had reached the endgame of a sprawling investigation of large-scale corruption involving Adidas, Louisville, and a host of other colleges in which large payments were laundered from Adidas through a network of coaches and fixers to athletes and their families to induce them to go to Adidas-branded college programs. In short order, Hall of Fame basketball coach Rick Pitino (salary: eight million dollars) and athletic director Tom Jurich were fired, and fear and trembling swept through the world of big-time college athletics. Because there is another shoe, as it were, and it will fall.

In The Last Temptation of Rick Pitino, Michael Sokolove lifts the rug on the Louisville scandal and places it in the context of the much wider problem: the farce of amateurism in big-time college sports. In a world in which even assistant coaches can make high-six and seven-figure salaries as long as they keep the "elite" athletes coming in, shoe deals can reach into the nine figures, and everyone is getting rich but the players, can it be surprising that unscrupulous parties would pay athletes, creating in effect a black market in young men, a veritable underground railroad of talent? 

But a few bad apples are one thing. In The Last Temptation of Rick Pitino, Michael Sokolove shows an elaborate, systematic machine involving hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit payments and connecting at least one of the largest apparel companies in the world with schools across the country. The Louisville-Adidas scandal has revealed a web of conspiracy whose scope has shaken big-time college sports to its core, delivering a devastating blow to the fantasy of amateurism, of "scholar athletes". 

A Shakespearean drama of greed and desperation involving some of the biggest characters in the arena of sports, The Last Temptation of Rick Pitino will be the definitive chronicle of this scandal and its broader echoes.

©2018 Michael Sokolove (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

“Though focusing on one disgraced coach and his former program, this exposé shows just how wide and deep is the corruption corroding men's college basketball.... It's ‘a climate of moral rot’ that will exist as long as college basketball generates huge sums of money while those who play the game, often from underprivileged families, are supposed to receive nothing. While the FBI investigation continues to play itself out in court, Sokolove's welcome context could well influence the court of public opinion.” (Kirkus, starred review)

“Using the tarnished legacy of former University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino as an anchor, Sokolove (Drama High) provides a lucid account of large-scale corruption in college basketball...a richly detailed, enlightening account of college sports.” (Publishers Weekly) 

More than we even imagined....

The evidence of the collusion between sneaker companies and college basketball, is truly impressive. It’s an exciting story made even more dramatic by the compelling voice of the narrator. If I didn’t give it 5 stars, it’s because I felt it could have used some editing.

Facts of College Basketbal

More people should read this before getting the youngsters involved in the BUSINESS of College Basketball.
More should be done to investigate those who become rich at the cost of young men and women trying
to do well at a SPORT. Remember it's a sport, NOT a business like it has become

Good Read! Wish it would dive deeper into the FBI

Good book but wish it would have had more info on FBI case, less background

Narration a little dry, but the story is compelling.

Narration a little dry, but the story is compelling. It’s worth a listen and I recommend it.

awesome bad fucking asssssssss

killer fucking book

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