EXCERPT
Those supporting Pitino, meanwhile, offer a theory that could explain why, in addition to Louisville, no one at Miami has been arrested, even though the FBI also has asserted Miami coaches were involved in arranging an Adidas payment for a recruit, also based on statements made by Dawkins: Maybe Dawkins was lying, boasting about Pitino and Larranaga to establish his bona fides as a legitimate dealmaker on the college sports black market.
In their meetings with prosecutors in New York, Marcos Jiménez — one of Pitino’s lawyers, also a former federal prosecutor — said he floated this theory.
“I told them this case is just Dawkins shooting his mouth off,” Jiménez said. The prosecutors “reacted like I hit a nerve. Like they were concerned it might be true.”
