The man said exactly what he needed to say.
I wanted to make a statement, not a prepared statement because I am not good with those things. But I do want to say the past 7 months have been very difficult on the people I love. And I made a decision seven months ago because of something I preach to my players for the 30 some odd years I have been coaching. They’ve heard it once a week for the 30 some odd years and it goes like this. When you have a problem, if you tell the truth, the problem becomes part of your past, but if you lie it becomes part of your future. And I made the difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to the university officials, and most important the people who love me most, my family and friends.
With that in mind I made a very strong case that I would not, a grand jury indictment is a very serious thing, and I have not commented on that for that reason. I have not said anything to any of you about any of it. But I am here today because I personally apologized to my family every single day. They are for all of us, our families, our wife and our children. Mine in particular, and as yours in particular are, they make the sun rise for me every morning. They are highly principled people, very strong morally, and very strong fundamentally, And I let them down with my indiscretion 6 years ago.
And I’m sorry for that, and I told them that every single day. And I want to tell them more than that, I want to tell my extended family, which is all my players, recruits that believe in me, families who believe in me, that I am sorry for that indiscretion 6 years ago. And you as professionals who have covered me, for 16 years, I want to apologize to you as professionals for that indiscretion 6 years ago.
There’s two things besides my apology to the university, most in particular Tom Jurich and Dr. Ramsey, who have been very strong with me throughout this period. My extended family, which is all the fans. You know, I came here during a very difficult time, when 9/11 hit, you needed a community to get you over it. In New York City, it was easy, because everybody knew the devastation of that and they got each other over it.
In Louisville, the impact obviously wasn’t felt like New York City but I needed this community to help me get over it. And the university officials, my friends and loved ones helped me get through this difficult time. I will continue to cooperate with the authorities as I have with day one. I believe in the judicial system and I will not comment on that. I hope that the trial comes quickly and we can do what all of you should have been doing during this time, is celebrating a Big East Championship, a wonderful season where we once again finished in the Elite Eight, with very dedicated players who paid the price to reach that pinnacle.
The second thing I am going to do besides be quiet about the indictment is I plan on accomplishing one thing and it is very very important for me. I plan on, regardless of how didfuclut a situation this is, to coach here at the University of Louisville for as long as I can physically can maintain the passion I have for the game of basketball, which is still stronger than when I was a head coach at 24 years of age. I love the game, love my players, love this university as well as this community. I don’t want to coach nowhere else, I don’t believe in anything as much as I believe in this university and this state. So as long as they will have me, for as long as they’ll have me, I will coach here.I’m not a spring chicken, but I’m certainly not over the hill. And I intend on recruiting the best athletes, the best people to this program, and go a little further than the past Elite Eight’s for many years to come.
So I thank you as professionals. I know there are much more pleasant things we would like to talk about. But, I do want to apologize once again to my loving family, my wife, university officials, as well as the extended family, all my players, and the great fans we have at the University of Louisville.
You can see Tom Jurich's statement and President Ramsey's statement on the C-J's site.