Rick Pitino held a press conference on Thursday and had some interesting comments towards the end of it. The Louisville head coach believes that shoe companies hold too much influence nowadays in recruitment.
"What I personally don't like (is) I can't recruit a kid because he wears Nike on the AAU circuit," Pitino said. "I had never heard of such a thing and it's happening in our world. Or, he's on the Adidas circuit, so the Nike schools don't want him."
Louisville and Adidas agreed to a $39 million extension this spring. That alone should not determine if a certain recruit will commit or not commit to the university, Pitino noted.
"In the last five years I've seen tremendous change on this," Pitino said, "and believe me, it's a very competitive thing by these shoe companies to get players. They're going out and recruiting like us in the summertime, `let's get this kid to the (Nike) EYB, let's get this kid in the Adidas Nations and they're competing like we compete for recruits."
One reason why Pitino is upset about this issue is because he lost out on one of the best recruits in the country in Antonio Blankeney. Blankeney originally committed to U of L, but then less than two weeks later he decommited supposedly because his AAU team is sponsored by Nike. This set off a big debate in the NCAA atmosphere.
These shoe companies are very dedicated to getting the athletes that already wear their brand. To some of the kids it does not matter what brand the team wears. No one will know if the athletes really committed to a school based on that. Maybe, Trey Lyles chose Kentucky over Louisville because his AAU team was sponsored by Nike. Who knows? The brand does not influence the entire decision but it could have made some difference.
The coaches might steer the recruit to a certain college sponsored by the same company to still support their team. Pitino wants the NCAA to run summer camps so that the rules are explained to recruits and so coaches can look any prospects. Rick unfortunately blamed himself for not knowing enough about current shoe companies and the way AAU influences, but it did teach him more how he recruits. He now has to make sure he will not recruit kids that make shoe brands a big part of where they go for their college career.
"As long as you do your homework, you're fine," Pitino said. "I didn't do my homework. ... We have to make sure we know that it doesn't matter to the kids; and those kids we want to go after."