Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Rick Pitino also is not amused by Gordon Gee’s comments

Indiana Pacers v Miami Heat - Game Five

MIAMI, FL - MAY 30: Head Coach Rick Pitino of the Louisville Cardinals attends Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat at AmericanAirlines Arena on May 30, 2013 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The Gordon Gee Apology Train keeps rolling on, and it also keeps adding those that want to derail it, with Gee on it.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino appeared on the radio with local host Terry Meiners a few days ago, and was asked about Ohio State President Gordon Gee’s comments regarding Louisville, the SEC and other pot shots Gee took during a meeting a few years ago.

Pitino, never one to mince words, let it fly.

“I have a major problem with [Gee], not with Ohio State,” Pitino said. “I have a major problem with him and he’s a pompous ass for making those statements.”

Doesn’t look like Pitino and Gee will be exchanging jokes anytime soon. But it’s not like the national champion head coach is alone.

Pitino also was upset at Gee’s comments towards the Catholic religion and said that he doesn’t believe that Gee stood for Ohio State as a whole.

He was also, obviously, quick to defend his current employer, Louisville, and his former employer, Kentucky.

“Well, I can live with those things,” Pitino said. “Because the way Kentucky and Louisville have improved scholastically from my time being at both places is amazing to me. We’ve been the no. 1 grade point average in the Big East [Conference] for the last three years....Sometimes Terry, ignorance is bliss. It’s amongst coaches, it’s amongst politicians and now it’s amongst [college] presidents. So you can tell that ignorance isn’t just curtailed to coaches or to other people, it’s curtailed to presidents as well.”

“President Gee is trying to crack jokes and denigrate other people. In Louisville, I can’t speak for Kentucky, I’ll let John [Calipari] speak for them, but in Louisville, we don’t take kindly to those comments and we were very insulted by it. And when people have to make jokes and denigrate others to get laughter, that means they’re truly ignorant of the facts.”


Find sound of the complete Pitino interview below.

Follow David Harten on Twitter at @David_Harten