Gophers coach Richard Pitino wasted no time in his first news conference addressing the news of his father's pending dismissal from Louisville.

Hall of Famer Rick Pitino, who won a 2013 national title and spent nearly 20 years as the Cardinals coach, was placed on administrative leave Tuesday after an FBI probe linked his assistant to allegedly paying a recruit $100,000 to sign.

"I know you guys are interested in talking about my dad's situation," Pitino said. "The biggest thing with that is, it's family. He's my dad. I love him, I care for him, I want what's best for him. I'm here for him. I just want him to be happy.

"It's been a tough week for our family."

Pitino doesn't think his dad will go into hiding and expects him to still attend some of the Gophers games and support him this season.

"I think we're always there for each other," he said. "You always know when tough times hit who has got your back. And our family is very strong."

Howard Sinker, Star Tribune
Richard Pitino talked Friday afternoon about his father's upcoming dismissal as men's basketball coach at Louisville.

The younger Pitino said he didn't know about any of the allegations against Louisville, where he coached for three seasons from 2007-09 and 2011-12. The FBI's report had details on a Cardinals recruit being paid in the past year.

The probe is taking on corruption both in college basketball and in the dealings between leaders in the sport and shoe companies. The aftershocks of this week's news will be felt for some time.

"I think it's bad and good," Richard Pitino said Friday. "I think probably short-term it's not very good. But maybe in the long term it might be better. It's not good for anybody right now. I only know what I read, so you never know what the truth is with all that stuff. It's never good when you hear any of those things about your game. Hopefully, it's something that in the long term we might benefit from it."

Louisville announced Friday that assistant David Padgett would be the acting head coach.

Pitino said his staff and many others across the country were wondering which other programs would be implicated in the probe, which led to arrests of assistants at Arizona, Southern California, Oklahoma State and Auburn. The U hasn't been contacted by the FBI, but nonconference opponents Miami (Fla.) and Alabama both have.

"It's kind of business as usual for us, to be honest," Pitino said. "Everybody is aware of what's going on. But we have expectations of what we do and kind of go from there."