Pitino hoped tryst could be a secret

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky.

Rick Pitino, worried that his wife and kids would find out he had a one-night stand with a woman he met in a bar, acknowledged Thursday that he didn’t immediately tell police about demands for cars, cash and housing in order to keep the tryst secret.

The Louisville basketball coach told jurors he kept quiet for nearly two months, hoping he could “contain” the damaging information.

Intimate details emerged over the past two days as Pitino, 57, testified against the woman, Karen Cunagin Sypher, at her federal extortion trial. He recounted the sex, the threatening calls he said left him “sick to my stomach” and strongly denied allegations he raped Sypher.

Pitino had to pause, look down and gather himself Thursday as he told jurors the hardest part of the case: telling his family about the 2003 affair after he reported the alleged extortion demands to the FBI in April 2009.

Pitino and defense attorney James Earhart frequently cut each other off during Thursday’s questioning, and the tension escalated as Earhart pushed Pitino to address the rape allegations.

The coach interrupted, saying he was “here to give the truth.” Earhart retorted, “I bet you are.”

“I don’t fear the truth,” Pitino said.

“Neither do we,” Earhart shot back.

Sypher, 50, has pleaded not guilty.