Louisville board chairman hopes Rick Pitino returns

The list of Rick Pitino supporters now includes Louisville's board of trustees chairman Larry Benz.

"Our genuine hope is that Coach Pitino is our coach for as many years as he wants," Benz said in a statement released Friday, according to Tim Sullivan of the Courier-Journal. "We join our Athletic Director, Tom Jurich, in our complete support of him."

Pitino said earlier in the week that he would take the summer to contemplate his future with the Cardinals, but added he expects to remain at Louisville next season.

The 63-year-old coach has been embroiled in a sex scandal that rocked Louisville at the beginning of the season, and resulted in the school self-imposing a postseason ban. Pitino has maintained all along that he had no knowledge of an ex-staffer paying escorts to entertain recruits, and Benz said he believes his longtime coach.

"I am deeply convinced that the NCAA findings will clear Rick Pitino of any knowledge of the alleged scandal," he said.

On Thursday, Louisville trustee Emily Bingham criticized the school's president, Dr. James Ramsey, for failing to provide "clear, forceful condemnation" of sexual misconduct. Pitino responded by blasting Bingham on his personal website.

"That trustee would be better served trying to get a dysfunctional board on some form of a team," he wrote. "I'll make a suggestion to the person I have not met: let God judge and get out of your glass house."