LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville assistant David Padgett was named
Evgeny Kuznetsov Jersey acting head coach of the program Friday, just two days after Rick Pitino was placed on unpaid administrative leave after being linked to a federal corruption investigation that has rocked college basketball. Interim president Greg Postel announced the hire during a late-afternoon news conference on campus. Padgett, a former player who returned to the program as director of basketball operations in 2014, averaged 11.2 points per game as a senior at Louisville during the 2007-08 season. The former prep All-American played overseas for two seasons before joining IUPUI's staff and commencing his coaching career"David is known by all as a hard worker," Postel said. "These are the kinds of things that will allow him to be extraordinary in this role." Louisville players wanted Padgett to take on the acting head coach role, according to a source close to the program who said the team met Wednesday after a conditioning workout and agreed to back him as a possible Pitino replacement. Padgett acknowledged the challenges the program has faced this week. He said he accepted the role because of his commitment to the players on the roster. Padgett said players had an enthusiastic workout Wednesday after Pitino and former athletic director Tom Jurich were placed on leave. He said their attitude confirmed "they're a special group" that he expects the team's supporters to rally around this season. Padgett said he's unsure who will be on his staff; he'll wait until an interim athletic director is named next week to finalize the pool of assistants who will join him. He said he hasn't talked to assistants Kenny Johnson or Jordan Fair"It's gonna be a challenge," he said. "No question about it." On Tuesday, 10 people tied to a corruption scandal unveiled by the FBI, including four assistant coaches at four separate Division I programs, were arrested. Staffers
http://www.officialcapitalsauthentic.com/Ilya_Samsonov_Jerseyat Louisville, Miami and Alabama also have been mentioned in the aftermath of the investigation. The FBI documents cited two coaches on Louisville's staff as working with Adidas executive Jim Gatto to funnel $100,000 to five-star recruit Brian Bowen. On Thursday, ABC News confirmed that Pitino is the "Coach-2" mentioned in the FBI documents as the coach who spoke to Gatto multiple times and "requested" the transaction that allegedly sealed Bowen's commitment. Bowen has been suspended indefinitely from all team activities, but he's still on campus, Padgett saidPadgett said he still has a relationship with Pitino. When they spoke after Wednesday's final team meeting, Padgett said the former coach was "heartbroken." Pitino released a statement Friday, thanking players from his time at Providence, Kentucky and Louisville, and his friends and family. He also complimented Jurich. He denied knowledge of any payments to any recruit or their family, but said he "will take ownership of my decisions." "I can't deny my relationship with Coach Pitino," Padgett said. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him." But Padgett
http://www.officialblazershop.com/authentic-1-evan-turner-jersey.html said coaches don't have to cheat to get top talent. He said he can promise supporters he will not be named in the documents connected to the FBI investigationOn Porzingis specifically, Mills added: "I think we're really good at building relationships with people, and I'm very confident that we will make him feel good about being a Knick and make him feel good about the environment here." One litmus test for the Knicks will be whether Porzingis decides to sign an extension this summer or next. But that's an issue for another time. For now, after the first week of camp, things have been unusually quiet around the team. For starters, there haven't been any controversial tweets or mixed messages about the triangle offense. All of this has brought a sense of normalcy to the Knicks this week -- one that Hornacek hopes is here to stay. "Can our
Festus Ezeli Jersey guys now handle distractions? I don't know," Hornacek said. "Hopefully we don't do [have to do] that. We just play the game, and the focus is on the New York Knicks
