By Whitney Spencer
After the jury brought back guilty verdicts on all six charges against Karen Sypher yesterday, University of Louisville vice-president and athletic director Tom Jurich called an impromptu press conference at the Student Activities Center. The small setting only held a few local media outlets, but the tension in the room was palpable as Jurich walked in to take his seat.
Jurich opted not to make an opening statement which is the norm for most of his press conferences but instead prompted those in the room to fire away with questions assuming each person in the room knew why there were there.
“I think it was something we expected considering all the evidence,” said Jurich referring to the guilty verdict. “We don’t view anything as a win. This has been a long 17 months and there was a lot of damage done.”
Jurich expressed his complete surprise with Sypher’s lack of testimony during the trial, but indicated that her choice not to take the stand “told everybody everything we needed to know.”
Though coach Rick Pitino and Jurich hadn’t spoken at the time of the press conference, Jurich made note to explain the effects the entire trial took on Pitino, his family, and his reputation.
“It’s been very taxing because he loves his family. The most important thing in the world to him is his family and he knows he let them down that night. This was over seven years ago…he made a very, very bad mistake – one that he owned up to.”
When asked if his outlook on Pitino has changed, he strongly denied any changes in his original plan to support Pitino referring to the fact that Pitino came to him in 2008 to inform him of the situation.
Jurich continued to support Pitino’s recollection of events saying that the coach never wavered in his story and that was proven throughout the trial.
“My counsel for Rick for what it’s worth, maybe nothing, was that the truth will always work out for you,” said Jurich. “Just stay with the truth. And he did. The hard part was he had to endure all this. A lot of false accusations were made and she’s been convicted on six felonies for it. “
According to Jurich, Pitino’s recruiting hasn’t suffered and he doesn’t believe that it ever will. Pitino has a contract to keep him as head coach at the University of Louisville through the 2016-2017 season and Jurich has confidence that Pitino will be able to repair the damage done.
