Pitino's Out at Louisville: Dude Only Had a Two-Scandal Limit

Now they tell him.

Who knew that being a famous basketball coach in a basketball-crazy state could actually run out of escape scenarios?

Rhetorical question. No one did. That's because everyone assumed they'd only being dealing with the NCAA's pee-pee whacking enforcement division.

Little did Rick Pitino know the Feds were lurking, and this time, they're the ones who struck.

It took a day for the obvious to happen, but Rick Pitino is now toe jam.

Not necessarily on moral grounds, either. After all, this is Division I college basketball.

The Louisville Cardinals are now staring down both barrels of the NCAA's so-called death penalty.

Frankly, handing down the ultimate punishment is a toss-up here.

It seems like the NCAA will look far and wide to avoid dropping the hammer on one of its money-spinning members, so maybe canning Pitino and AD Tom Jurich will enable the 'Ville to do yet another MacGyver.

But Pitino's schtick of being shocked was due to run its course, even with those who've been sidewinking:

• That victim of extortion incident didn't exactly boost his cred, and then,
• His wide-eyed disavowal of the stripper scandal probably reinforced Pitino's perception that he was untouchable.

But, really, dude shoulda seen the thin ice cracking beneath his feet right after that.

Louisville clearly chose to do the blinders thing, and now, their entire hoops program could be in jeopardy.

As to Pitino's immediate concerns, it's come to this: if someone already caught in the FBI's web decides to flip and drops his name, being shocked may be the least of his worries.