In a defiant statement, ousted University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino’s lawyers said late Wednesday that the facts will “inevitably exonerate him” and that the rush to judge him was “regrettable.”

Attorney Steve Pence said the university gave him no prior notice of disciplinary action or the opportunity to respond, as required by his contract and university policy.

The statement also repeats Pence’s earlier assertion in an interview that Pitino was “effectively fired.”

Pence and Pitino’s other lawyers, Kurt Scharfenberger and Bryan Cassis, said in the statement that the Hall of Fame coach stands by his previous assertion that “named and unnamed people perpetrated a fraudulent scheme” on the University of Louisville and its basketball program.

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“The information disclosed thus far in the investigation is clearly insufficient to implicate Coach Pitino in any type of misconduct or other activity that would violate the terms of his contract,” the statement says. “In sum, Coach Pitino has done nothing wrong and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise. ”
Earlier Wednesday afternoon, interim President Greg Postel suspended Pitino, who led the University of Louisville to the 2013 NCAA basketball championship, and athletic director Tom Jurich, citing a criminal complaint that $100,000 was funneled to the family of 5-star recruit Brian Bowen to induce him to sign with the program.

Pence, a former U.S. attorney and lieutenant governor, also represented former University of Louisville President James Ramsey