Rick Pitino Statement Regarding Coaching Rumors

UofL head basketball coach Rick Pitino has been linked to the Sacramento Kings coaching job but today he issued his strongest denial saying he has not contacted nor been contacted by the Kings. Here's the statement from UofL:

"I'm not sure how these rumors get started, but there is absolutely
no truth that there has been any dialog, either directly or indirectly, with the
Kings and I'm sure they would confirm that. I am not represented by an
agent, I don't have a "camp," and no one representing me nor have I had any
contact with the Kings. Anything else said to the contrary is false.
These invalid rumors are unfair to the Kings and are misleading to the many
outstanding young men we are recruiting to attend U of L.

"I'm so proud of our players that have worked so hard to win the
BIG EAST Conference regular season and tournament championships in arguably the
toughest season since its inception last year. At the same time, our team
has also performed very well in the classroom, earning a collective team grade
point average over a 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) during the past year. We have
worked extremely hard to attract the type of players that have helped us reach
the NCAA Elite Eight the past two seasons and have kept us among the top ten in
the nation the last two seasons.

"I have great respect for the Kings, their ownership and (President for Basketball Operations) Geoff Petrie. However, I have been totally committed to U of L the past eight seasons and I am looking forward to the future more than ever. We are all very anxious for the start of next season and will concentrate our efforts on what we can control, not on what we can't."