What if Rick Pitino Had Been a Woman?

Professor Joseph Kohm, who teaches sports law at Regent University School of Law and is a certified MLB agent (and former member of the Syracuse men's basketball team), checks in with an interesting question:

* * *

My wife [Professor Lynne Marie Kohn] teaches Family Law and Gender in the Law at Regent University and she asked me a very interesting question today. She wondered what would be the reaction if Rick Pitino was a woman. What if she was a prominent Division 1 head women’s basketball coach and it came to light that she had engaged in sexual intercourse on a table with a man (not her husband) she just met that evening in a restaurant? Some news reports in the Pitino matter say that one of his assistants was called to the restaurant and that the assistant was able to hear what was going on inside. Not to mention the abortion issue.

I looked at Coach Pitino’s employment contract and he can be dismissed for conduct that, “could objectively be anticipated to bring Employee into public disrepute or scandal” or his actions tend, “to greatly offend the public.” Similarly, he can be terminated if his actions sink to a level of “moral depravity.” Maybe it’s just me but I sense kind of a boys-will-be-boys attitude by the Athletic Director, whereas if a Coach who was a woman engaged in this type of behavior, she would have to wear The Scarlet Letter.

* * *

Has Pitino's gender helped him?