Pitino's former assistant says he knows what Pitino is going through

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears / vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com

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A decade ago, when he was coach of the Boston Celtics, Rick Pitino spoke bluntly but with compassion about the sexual encounter that forced the firing of his then-assistant coach Winston Bennett, a former UK basketball star.

"Winston is a tremendous young man, but he just has one terrible weakness," Pitino told The Courier-Journal of Louisville at the time. "He's a womanizer. And we're trying to help him with that problem, to keep his family together and to turn his life in the right direction."

Bennett has responded in much the same way in the aftermath of Pitino's public apology for having extramarital sex in 2003. Pitino gave the woman, Karen Sypher, $3,000 when she said she did not have health insurance and wanted to have an abortion.

"I've written him and just told him that me and my family are praying for he and his family. We know exactly what he is going through," Bennett said in a telephone interview from Mayfield, where he is men's basketball coach at Mid-Continent University.

"After I was dismissed from the Celtics, he actually brought me back on as a scout," Bennett said. "Coach Pitino has been very loyal to me and my family. I'll be tremendously loyal to him. This is a situation you don't go through alone."

Bennett reached stardom in high school as Mr. Basketball in 1983, was a member of the Wildcats Final Four squad in 1984 and was Pitino's assistant coach when UK won the NCAA championship in 1996. A year later, Bennett went with Pitino to Boston, and some said he was headed for a career as an NBA coach.

But in 1998, Bennett had an affair with a female student at Brandeis University, where the team practiced. That violated the Celtics' contract with Brandeis and led to his firing.

"When it comes to sex, I've been the poster boy for wrong. That's been my downfall," said Bennett, who is writing a book about overcoming his problem.

Bennett, 44, who salvaged his marriage to his wife, Peggy, said he hasn't talked to Pitino about Sypher.

But from his own experience as a father of three, Bennett said he knows this: "It will have an effect on his children. It will have an effect on everybody's life that he has touched."

Bennett said his book, which could be published in October, is called Fight for Your Life: From Tragedy to Triumph.

In it, Bennett says, he chronicles his career at Louisville Male High School and his time at UK and in the NBA.

But he said most of his book details his struggle to overcome his sex addiction, for which he received treatment, and to regain his career after he was fired as head men's basketball coach at Kentucky State University in 2003. That occurred after he struck a player during a practice.

Bennett's team won a conference championship in his first season at KSU in 2000.

But one day in his third season, Bennett said, he reacted when he thought one of his players had purposely injured another.

"I ran over to get into the middle, and as I did that, I sort of lost it myself. We started firing back and forth. My punches landed, and his didn't," Bennett said.

Bennett said a dedication to Jesus Christ is helping turn his personal life around, but it took his coaching career longer to rebound.

For years after his problems made news, Bennett said, no one wanted to hire him.

Then, in 2007, he said, officials at Mid-Continent University in Mayfield offered him a second chance.

"The Lord has shined grace and mercy on me, as he will Coach Pitino," said Bennett.

In working on his book, Bennett said, he had considered the athletes, coaches and other high-profile people whose personal failings make headlines.

"From President Clinton to the governor of South Carolina on down the line, there's been examples of powerful people who have had a misstep in their life," Bennett said. "Their messes become their message."

What went on inside Bennett's head to make him risk his reputation and career?

"In my case, it was a selfish motive," he said. "I was living in the moment."

Bennett said that being adored by fans, particularly UK fans, is not an explanation for his addiction, but he said it didn't help.

"I liken it to being the Beatles, to being Michael Jackson. At Kentucky, you play on a stage. Rupp Arena is your stage. Outside of that stage is 23,000-plus fans, with the great majority of that being women who are there for you whatever the need may be," Bennett said.

"There is always going to be someone out there willing to go with you. You have to have the moral fiber and the spiritual wherewithal to know that it's wrong."

But Bennett says he's careful not to pass judgment on high-profile people whose errors in judgment became public.

And he had a final word for people who might be judging Pitino: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," he said. "Any one of us is just a step away from failing."

Reach Valarie Honeycutt Spears at (859) 231-3409 or 1-800-950-6397, ext. 3409.