POLL: Money or dignity?

[bigbluelou]

Hypothetical (indulge me)

If you were in Pitino's shoes and, due to some rip in the fabric of space/time, you had the power to select from one of the two options below, which would you choose?

1. You can walk away completely vindicated of all wrongdoing (post-Sypher) but with $0 paid out on your contract (because of some minor for-cause technicality). You will be lauded as one of the greatest coaches of all time, you keep your nat'l title, and you remain a HOF'er. OR...
2. You can walk away with your $44MM contract paid in full, have generational money, retire comfortably and spend the rest of your life golfing and fishing, trying to keep a low profile. BUT, everyone knows you are a liar, cheater, phony, reprobate p.o.s., and your name is stricken from the HOF. You are forever vilified as the worst-of-the-worst offenders in college sports history.

 

[mebeblue2]

no matter how they vote most people would take the 44m

 

[shaolin style]

no matter how they vote most people would take the 44m

However, in this situation Pitino should already be loaded from all that Adidas money. Not to mention previous income, investments, real estate, etc.

But yes, I'm sure most people would still take money because greed and things.

 

[*CatinIL*]

1. He should already have enough money to live a very comfortable life.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

no matter how they vote most people would take the 44m

Wrong. I'm older than many on this board. I have far, far less money than Pitino must have already squirreled away. No way I'd give up my reputation (however small) in the professional world I inhabit, not to mention the respect of my children and any claim I have to a legacy for more money to spend in several years when I can retire, or to leave to my kids. I've had friends and colleagues who have destroyed their reputations through scandal and cheating. I wouldn't trade places with them.

Now, if I were 25 would I see it differently? Maybe.

 

[JonathanW_rivals]

How much money, and how big of a "dignity hit"?

Generations set for life, or enough for a vacation?
Bad enough to cost you your family & friends, or an embarrassment that will be forgotten in a week?


But in regards to Coach 2, I have to say dignity. He was already set for life rich. And this isn't just a smudge of his dignity, this is a complete shredding of it.

 

[katntonic]

Honor, integrity and reputation are far more valuable then most give credit for. They are our legacy.

I’m sure if this question was posed to Pitino he’d much rather have his reputation as one of the greatest coaches of all time with his nest egg he already has. His legacy will forever be one of the dirtiest coaches ever in the game, a legacy that will be a dark cloud over little Rickies career, a legacy that has tainted the Pitino name forever.

 

[bigbluelou]

no matter how they vote most people would take the 44m

See, this is me. I voted the "integrity" vote, but damn...$44MM? That'd be awfully hard to walk away from.

 

[bigbluelou]

How much money, and how big of a "dignity hit"?

Generations set for life, or enough for a vacation?
Bad enough to cost you your family & friends, or an embarrassment that will be forgotten in a week?

Well, to answer your questions:

• The dignity hit is immense and historic, just as described in my original hypothetical (i.e. it will not be forgotten in a week, month, year, or twenty years.)
• Generational money, as in several generations down unless squandered or pilfered. $44MM would go a lonnnnnnng way.

 

[Pygmy Sasquatch]

1. He should already have enough money to live a very comfortable life.

Agreed.

 

[Bluegrassking]

If I get all the other Pitino money then I guess I could easily afford some dignity, if I have zero then I would find the price of dignity too high.

There is only so much dignity to maintain when you are pushing a "borrowed" grocery cart of your stuff down a back alley and few levels of being a bum that can't get a sincere "yes sir!" after giving a hundred dollar tip.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

If I get all the other Pitino money then I guess I could easily afford some dignity, if I have zero then I would find the price of dignity too high.

This sums it up perfectly.

 

[Boneheadblue]

44 mil will buy you a place where you wouldn't need dignity

 

[LogicalCat]

Pitino should already be set $$ with what's he's "Earned" at UofL.

Unless you're completely amoral, go with a bit of Dignity into the hereafter.

 

[Pickle_Rick]

I've done enough stupid stuff that I have no money AND no dignity. Trust me, you can live without dignity.

Ps. I expect I'll continue doing stupid stuff. It's too damn much fun.

 

[bigbluelou]

I've done enough stupid stuff that I have no money AND no dignity. Trust me, you can live without dignity.

Ps. I expect I'll continue doing stupid stuff. It's too damn much fun.

You’re off to a good start.

:grimace:

 

[mebeblue2]

take the money and run
move to a new place and then become dignified
in two generations you are forgotten anyway

in Pitino's case he will never be forgotten by the sports world
maybe his ego is why he did all the corrupt things
he will never be forgotten now

 

[Nuke99m.]

Give me the 44 million and I'll move somewhere where basketball is unknown.

 

[Seth_C]

I'll be honest. If I were Pitino? Take the reputations. I'd already have tens of millions, easily.

If I were me? In Debt or $44 million? I wouldn't need $44 million. Give me half that and it's no discussion.

 

[GonzoCat90]

For an egomaniac like Pitino (or any historically great person at basically anything) the ego hit is worse than the financial one.

They didn't get into coaching for the money, and there's a part of him deep down that is really bothered by the way he's viewed. It's why he's tried so hard for years to cultivate a different image publicly than he was truly living. So when you factor in public shame AND the hit to his legacy, tarnishing what he spent his life accomplishing, I think Rick would gladly give up the money for that.

Especially when he's already rich.

Obviously, a bunch of us here without $44 million and who haven't put in the time and effort actually building his legacy will answer differently. I'd take the money. He wouldn't.

 

[katwest]

He had enough money to live on the rest of his life after he left Boston, he developed a sickness in Louisville and became a greedy old man who would do anything to overcome his biggest obstacle, The University Of Kentucky. He failed in that attempt and now nobody will ever listen to what he has to say, although he will keep talking like Magpie in a feeble attempt to clear his name. In the meantime it will eat at him forever, envy and jealousy will age you like nothing else. Look at him now sad shell of what he was.

 

[bigbluelou]

He had enough money to live on the rest of his life after he left Boston, he developed a sickness contracted syphilis in Louisville and became a greedy old man who would do anything to overcome his biggest obstacle, The University Of Kentucky. He failed in that attempt and now nobody will ever listen to what he has to say, although he will keep talking like Magpie in a feeble attempt to clear his name. In the meantime it will eat at him forever, envy and jealousy will age you like nothing else. Look at him now sad shell of what he was.

Sorry, fixed for clarity.

 

[Ben101er]

You are kidding, aren't you? After the Sypher debacle, Katinagate, and now this, Pitino has no dignity. So, he is going after the cash. I think he fails, but, he will try.

 

[UKGrad93]

$44M is life changing for me and my family. I'll take the money.

I think the question for most people becomes more interesting when the money drops to say, $500k. A lot of money, but doesn't change generations and depending on your age, you would probably still need to work.

 

[Bkocats]

If I were Pitino, I would choose the dignity.
That’s easy to say though, especially in this case. OP did specify post-Sypher. This means (or should mean) I would have already had made enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life AND take care of generations of descendants. I would be rich, plus I’d be able to leave a legacy of which my family would be proud.
Pitino has already made that kind of money, and much more. What’s going on now is a combination of greed and, basically, an egotistical temper tantrum. He wants to “show” them; prove they can’t do this to him.