Sullivan | Provocative Pitino talks shoes

Rick Pitino's larynx has a life of its own. When his mind races, his mouth roars. Even when the voice in his head is saying, "Put a sock in it, pal," the head basketball coach of the University of Louisville cannot help but make himself heard.

Two weeks ago, after the much-coveted Antonio Blakeney rescinded his commitment to U of L and reopened his college search, Pitino declined a request to discuss the influence of shoe companies on recruiting.

You had to know this couldn't last. You had to know the Hall of Fame coach was bound to crack beneath the weight of so many unspoken words. You didn't have to ask. You only had to wait.

Thursday afternoon, almost without prompting, Pitino's lips loosened long enough to expound on how shoe companies have shaped recruiting, how the NCAA might reclaim some control over AAU teams, how he was personally slow to appreciate the influence of brands on recruiting choices and how shoe company dollars make it a tough trend to reverse.

"Nobody wants to talk about that," he said. "Why nobody wants to talk about that is because it's money-related ...

"It's very tough to address because our pockets are lined with their money."

This was provocative stuff, another example of the off-topic, on-tangent remarks that make Pitino's press conferences almost as entertaining as his teams. Recent examples of his memorable digressions include extemporaneous monologues on term limits, gun control, African culture, the "trap of technology" and the perils of social media. Though he fancies himself operating on a "One-Day Contract," Rick Pitino's active agenda is plainly a multi-year and multi-level proposition.

For the record, the question that led Pitino to his sneakers soliloquy pertained to the Big Ten Conference's decision to "guarantee" four-year scholarships across all of its sports. As the NCAA's five power conferences have gained greater autonomy, their ability to improve the terms of athletic scholarships expands their competitive advantage vis-à-vis less wealthy schools and figures to spark a new arms race among the elite.

Where the Big Ten has led, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference will probably be forced to follow. Alabama and Texas are not likely to concede recruiting advantages to Ohio State and Michigan. Yet Pitino views the Big Ten's guarantee as a cosmetic change; more public relations than paradigm-shifting.

"I think that's more PR than it is reality," he said. "We have so many other issues we should be dealing with to correct. That's nice PR for the conference to do that and I'm sure the ACC will follow suit. But it's really more PR. We have other issues we should be dealing with."

The guaranteed scholarship is more of a football issue and, perhaps, an effort by the Big Ten to level a playing field that has lately grown lopsided. The tendency among coaches to "overrecruit," to sign more players than there are available scholarships, is a cynical exercise that leads to an annual purge of underperformers, particularly in the Southeastern Conference. It can also be a competitive advantage for those schools that feel no compunction about revoking scholarships from athletes who can be replaced by more promising players.

Pitino is no stranger to roster manipulation, and has moved scholarship players to walk-on status to meet men's basketball's 13-scholarship limit. But his more pressing concern is competing with Nike for the hearts and minds of prospects.

U of L's sports teams are sponsored by Adidas. From a basketball perspective, Nike is to Adidas as LeBron James is to Dwight Howard.

"I never thought shoes would be the reason to recruit players and it's a factor," Pitino said. "I think we need to deal with that. We need to get the shoe companies out of the lives of young athletes."

Though that cause was likely lost a long time ago, Rick Pitino is not yet ready to concede. He does not always have the last word, but he's seldom short of something to say.

Tim Sullivan can be reached at (502) 582-4650, by email at tsullivan@courier-­journal.com, and on Twitter @TimSullivan714.