Rick Pitino Fires Shots at Nike For Influencing Recruits

Rick Pitino does not get along with Nike.

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Complex Original

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Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino thinks he's losing prized recruits because of Nike, and the legendary college coach is not happy about it. 

Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Pitino offered his thoughts on what believes to be the increasing influence of shoe companies in the NCAA. Citing the big bucks with which shoe companies regularly supply university athletic programs, Pitino went so far as to say that he didn't feel that he could even recruit high school athletes with any ties to Nike. Pitino's concern stems from Louisville's partnership with Adidas. 

As Inside The Ville points out, Pitino's comments were perhaps also sparked by the recent de-commitment of Antonio Blakeney, a top prospect who plays for Nike's E1T1 AAU team. Blakeney committed to Lousville in early September only to reverse his decision just 11 days later. 

“What I personally don’t like is I can’t recruit a kid because he wears Nike on the AAU circuit," Pitino said. "I’ve never heard of such a thing but it’s happening in our world. I never thought that shoes would be the reason that you recruit players but it’s a factor.

“I think we need to get the shoe companies out of the lives of the athletes. I think we need to get it back to where parents and coaches have more of a say than peripheral people, but that’s easier said than done.”

Pitino also pointed to Nike's presence on the basketball camp circuit as another avenue of their influence. 

“I wish the NCAA would run the camps in the summer,” he suggested. “So that everybody gets explained the NCAA rules, and they run the camps, when we can watch, and legislate that. That would be a great way to spend that war-chest they have. But I don’t think they want to do that.”

As such, Pitino feels he's getting boxed out from the top players who play for Nike's AAU teams and attend their camps.

“It’s a problem that is really prevalent in basketball right now,” Pitino said. “I’m sure the Nike coaches don’t feel that way cause they’re winning the battle.”

“Some of these AAU programs get paid a lot of money to run their program,” he added. “What I’ve learned is that if I go in and it’s a Nike program getting a grand sum of money, Louisville is not going to get a commit from that recruit because [the AAU program] may not get that grand sum of money down the road if they don’t go to those schools.”

However, don't feel too badly for Pitino. The Cardinals still boast a top 10 recruiting class, and are only one year removed from a national champion-winning season. Pitino may have a point, but he's certainly found a way to work around these limitations.

[via Inside The Ville

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