Earlier in the day we told you about Louisville coach Chris Mack receiving a six-game suspension as part of his extortion case with former assistant coach Dino Gaudio.
As a quick refresher - and this will be quick, because we want to get to the good stuff - Mack fired Gaudio right after the season.
Gaudio then threatened to report Mack to the NCAA for rules violations if he didn't pay him out the rest of his contract.
Just one problem, Mack was recording the whole conversation and he turned them over to his bosses, which led to extortion charges (for what it's worth, Gaudio received one-year probation and a fine in the case today).
But now let's get to the good part. Because there is no one - at least not me - who thought we'd actually get the audio of Gaudio attempting to extort Mack.
Well, we did. And it's a doozy. Here it is via ESPN Louisville.
And be warned, there are a lot of, ahem, inappropriate words in there:
I mean I can't lie, there is just a LOT to peel back there.
First off, how about Gaudio calling Louisville's AD Vince Tyra a "toad." Not a great look, but a unique descriptor none the less. I also love him threatening to go to the media and then butchering half their names. Shout out Fran Fraschillo!
But really though, one serious takeaway I do have is this: I kind of feel bad for Chris Mack here.
One, as I wrote this morning - let's not pretend that the rules he broke were major. He had a few grad assistants working players out at a time that he shouldn't have. Not ideal and given the program's history, Louisville had to punish him. But as someone who has been to many college practices all over the country, I've seen a pretty liberal use of grad assistants and student managers in practice settings.
Two, you can hear in Mack's voice he is trying to reason with an unreasonable man. I'm not saying everyone should feel bad for Mack. But if we're being honest, he probably hired Gaudio as a favor in the first place (a 63-year-old, who has been working at ESPN for a decade doesn't scream "dynamic recruiter" you want to build a staff around). And after a disappointing season, Mack felt change need to be made. You could tell he clearly didn't want to fire someone he once considered a personal friend, but he had to. And then that guy comes in his office threatening him like it's Season 3 of the Sopranos or something.
In the end, Gaudio is out and so too is the audio.
It's wild.
So much for Friday's being a slow news day, huh?