Interesting e-mail that came
out of Rick Pitino's Louisville program last week in the wake of the GQ article that
basically deemed William Wesley (aka Worldwide Wes) the most powerful man in
sports. Pitino's assistant director of
athletic compliance, Nicholas Ojea, sent this to the Big East office, which
forwarded it to everyone in the conference.
It called Worldwide Wes a "runner".
Here's the e-mail:
Our M.Basketball coach forwarded us this article
which is quite alarming. I encourage you to pass this along to our
conference members and anyone else who could be affected by this
individual. This individual is a "runner" but disguises himself
as a friend or an "uncle" or an employee of NIKE. Last year we
had an issue with another individual. The article is lengthy.
http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_5735
Ojea and the Cardinals quickly sent a retraction to the Big East office just
days later - probably in fear of retribution of a lawsuit from Wesley:
Earlier this week I
sent an article in regards to William Wesley and his involvement with
basketball. My comments regarding the article were inaccurate as I stated
he was a "runner". At no point in the article did it describe
him as a "runner". In efforts to avoid any further confusion, I
apologize to him and those individuals affected by my previous email. To
further clarify, the incident we were involved with last year did not involve
Mr. Wesley. Once again, I apologize for my remarks.
Respectfully,
Nicholas T. Ojea