By LARRY VAUGHT

This has to be Rick Pitino’s worst nightmare.
He broke the hearts of many University of Kentucky fans when he left the Bluegrass in 1997 to coach the Boston Celtics. He broke even more Big Blue hearts when he came back to Kentucky to coach the Louisville Cardinals.
However, nothing is going to be as damaging to his reputation as the confirmation now that he says he did have consensual sex with Karen Cunagin Sypher in 2003 at a Louisville restaurant where he had been celebrating with friends, including aide Vinny Tatum, a Mercer County native. She alleged she was raped that night.
According to a story in The Courier-Journal, he also told police he gave Sypher $3,000 to have an abortion even though he refuted her allegation that he raped her. Sypher has recently been indicted for trying to extort money from Pitino in his bizarre case that will always haunt Pitino.
No winners

This he said-she said mess has no winners. Pitino had to have known better than to have even consensual sex at a restaurant after it closed.
It’s even worse that Tatum, who was there as Pitino’s designated driver, is now caught in the middle of this incident. The Courier says Tatum, a former manager for Pitino at Kentucky who followed him to Louisville, told the FBI that he didn’t see what happened but heard “only the sounds of two people that seemed to be enjoying themselves during a sexual encounter.”
The story has a lot of twists, turns and allegations that police could not substantiate. Yet Louisville athletics director Tom Jurich issued a statement Tuesday saying that Pitino had been “truthful” about the matter and that Louisville would continue to stand by him and his family.
What can he say?

Pitino wisely did not offer any comments. What could he say that would possibly make the situation any better for him? How could he explain that he actually rode home with her that night and met her later to give her money for the abortion?
This scandal has been waiting to explode. Remember not long ago Pitino sent his son, Richard, to Florida to coach under Billy Donovan even though he apparently had been doing well on the Louisville staff. Obviously Pitino knew this story would eventually come out and he wanted to distance himself from the public outcry.
Think how brutal it will be on the Louisville coach this season when the Cardinals go on the road to play. Fans can be cruel and given this kind of scenario, some fans will be almost unbearable. Who knows what the reception will be in Rupp Arena when he returns for the annual UK-Louisville game this year?
What about recruiting? Sure, we all make mistakes, but there’s no way any parent is going to not know about this and rival recruiters can have a field day with whispers, rumors and innuendoes now directed at Pitino. And what can he say?
Feeling the heat

Pitino has had to be feeling the Big Blue heat from new UK coach John Calipari in recent months. Calipari has the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class. He has embraced the state, including Louisville. Fans, including those in Louisville, have embraced Calipari.
Now Pitino has to deal with a public sex scandal — and likely messy trial for Cypher where even more embarrassing information could be revealed — along with Calipari’s success at Kentucky.
The only good news for Pitino is that hopefully it’s all out in the open now and he can start trying to repair his image even though it’s not going to be easy.
The man who once owned this state has not hit rock bottom, but he certainly is a tarnished star now with no one to blame but himself.

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