Gary Parrish

Tom Jurich is behind Rick Pitino. As is Dr. James Ramsey. So it appears Rick Pitino will survive this mess that would make more sense if it was a story lifted from "Days of our Lives," and I suppose the Hall of Fame coach simply had more equity built up over his distinguished career than Larry Eustachy and Mike Price, both of whom were removed from good jobs for less.

"Rick Pitino is the University of Louisville's basketball coach," Ramsey said via a statement released shortly after Pitino publicly apologized to his family, the university and its fans. "He has been a role model for countless young people and a positive influence on this community. Regardless of the truth or falsehood of specific actions that have been attributed to the coach, he's clearly made errors in judgment that have come under intense public scrutiny. We can't ignore these errors in judgment, and they have saddened and disappointed me. As we try to teach our students, when you make a mistake, you admit it and right it as best you can. Coach has done that today."

Translation: I'm pissed off, but I'm keeping my coach.

(Or at least that's the way I read it.)

Still, this is going to affect Pitino going forward.

There's no denying that.

I'd like to tell you his personal life won't come up in recruiting, but that would be a lie, because it will. Even if a prospect doesn't care, a prospect's family might. And even if a prospect's family doesn't care, opposing coaches will almost certainly try to make them care by floating theories about how Pitino's life is spiraling out of control, about how it'll lead to an early retirement, about how signing with Louisville isn't as likely to have you playing for Pitino as it is to have you playing for new assistant Ralph Willard.

In the business, it's called negative recruiting .

And it works.

So while Pitino spoke about the incident Wednesday and explained how telling the truth will help make it a part of his past, the reality is that this is very much going to be a part of his future, too. How much so remains to be determined. But when John Calipari moved down the street in April, Pitino's job immediately became more difficult, and I'm inclined to believe this latest episode is only going to make things worse.