Rick Pitino Deemed Unworthy Of Samford Law School's Leadership Luncheon

Rick Pitino was supposed to appear at a leadership luncheon in September at Samford's Cumberland law school. Now it seems the priapic boy genius will not be darkening Samford's door, for some mysterious reason.

A tipster forwards the following e-mail, from Judge John L. Carroll, dean of the law school:

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Carroll, John Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 11:45 AM To: '[email protected]' Subject: The Leadership Luncheon - September 10th

As you know, we have the first ever law school Leadership Luncheon scheduled for September 10th featuring Coach Rick Pitino. Many of you have provided substantial help in putting this together. XXXX secured Coach Pitino's appearance and Hare Wynn, through the assistance of XXXX and XXXX, agreed to provide transportation. Many of you and your law firms were to be sponsors.

I regret to inform you that Coach Pitino and the law school have mutually agreed to cancel the luncheon scheduled for September 10th. I want to thank all of you for your support of this project. We are making plans to put on a similar event in the near future.

Judge John L. Carroll Dean and Ethel P. Malugen Professor of Law Cumberland School of Law Samford University

So the fallout has begun. What's sad here, of course, is that Samford thought Pitino had anything interesting to say about law or leadership to a roomful of earnest 2Ls in the first place. (Now-humorous passage from an overview of his : "Lessons from Rick's own experiences coaching players and managing employees Pitino reveals why dictating and people-pleasing are dead ends.") What's doubly sad is that Samford canceled the moment Pitino actually had something interesting to say about law or leadership to a roomful of earnest 2Ls.