The Political Page, T+250 -- September 27, 2017

Pitino Fired

Link here.

Must read. Absolutely incredible how criminal, amoral this whole program seems to have been -- and coming on top of kneeling-gate.

Hall of shame:

• Pitino: thought to be "bullet-proof" -- as much chance of him getting fired as the Pope being excommunicated
• Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino has been fired in the wake of the school’s latest scandal
• FBI investigation
• 10 people charged
• corruption and fraud scheme
• illegal payment of a recruit 
• 2016: escort service had been paid by the program to have sex with prospective round-ball players and their family members -- organized by the former director of basketball operatiosn
• Adidas rep named
• others named: from Arizona and USC
• 2009: Pitino involved in extortion battle; sexual relationship; abortion

And then this:

His on court resume—a career record of 416–141 and two NCAA titles, one with Louisville in 2013—has been outstanding, but the background of his coaching career continues to grow murkier.

"...to grow murkier?" Perhaps the media is being too harsh, I bet some will say. These things happen. 

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College Ranking

Speaking of Louisville, how do the colleges/universities rack and stack in the most recent WSJ/Times Higher Education College Rankings? The "top 10" are the same as usual, just rotating among the top ten. But how were the other 490 colleges ranked?

15: University of Southern California (my alma mater, graduate school; white privilege)
25: UCLA (my wife's alma mater)
26: Pomono College (colleague's undergraduate school)
38: Carleton (a mentor's alma mater)
46: University of California, Davis (post-graduate study for me)
56: University of Texas, Austin
153: St Olaf College (I spent one high school summer at St Olaf)
179: University of Arizona (alma mater for older daughter and her husband)
188: Baylor (Texas)
t-198: Rutgers University-Newark (former girlfriend's alma mater)
243: Luther (heard about this college often when growing up)
274: Augustana College (Sioux Falls) (my alma mater, undergraduate)
286: University of California (Santa Cruz) (one month undergraduate experience)
306: Auburn University (memories from my days in the US Air Force)
371: University of Wyoming (I noted that UND, NDSU, SDSU, and SDSU did not rank among the top 500)
437: California Lutheran University (former girlfriend's alma mater)
473: California State University, Long Beach (just saying)
489: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (just saying)
489: Ohio University (really? this low? barely made the list)
I didn't see it on the list, probably missed it: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology