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This item has been updated to reflect a correction on where the donation was originally earmarked.
In the wake of a federal investigation into athlete recruiting practices, the university fired its basketball coach and its athletics director. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation isn’t the only one with a bone to pick: as a result of the firing of Tom Jurich, the athletics director, a donor has reversed a $6 million pledge to the university's athletics department.
“I didn’t think [Jurich] deserved to be fired,” Max Baumgardner, the would-be donor, told The Louisville Courier-Journal. “I think he got caught up with a 'new broom sweeps clean' sort of attitude. I was also pretty strong about [dismissed basketball coach Rick] Pitino. I loved that guy as a coach, but I do understand why they had to fire him. I don’t think we’ll ever have a coach as good.”
Originally, Baumgardner's charitable trust -- where the money for the athletic department was slated to come from upon his death -- was set up with four beneficiaries: a local parks conservancy would receive 10 percent, and the remaining 90 percent would be split between the Norton Children's Hospital, the university's athletics department, and the university's school of music. The school of music and children's hospital will now receive 45 percent each.
Jurich was technically fired with “just cause,” without an official explanation from the university, but his dismissal came shortly after Pitino’s.
