Woman is convicted of extortion against Rick Pitino

A Kentucky woman was convicted Thursday of demanding millions of dollars from Rick Pitino to keep secret their one-night stand in a restaurant, then claiming the Louisville basketball coach raped her after he reported the extortion.

Karen Cunagin Sypher, 50, of Louisville, was found guilty of three counts of extortion, two counts of lying to the FBI and one count of retaliating against a witness. She stared at the ceiling as the verdict was read, while one of her sons wept openly.

The case involved a 2003 sexual encounter between Pitino and Sypher, a former model at car shows, at a table inside an Italian restaurant closed for the night. Pitino testified she came on to him and the sex was consensual. After she was charged, Sypher told police it was rape but Pitino was never charged.

Last year, Pitino received three threatening phone calls and two letters demanding cash and gifts for Sypher to keep the tryst secret. One of the letters showed to the jury was a handwritten note from Sypher that asked for cars, tuition for her children and her mortgage to be paid off.

Neither Sypher or her attorney commented as they left federal court following her eight-day trial. But one of her sons, Jacob Wise, confronted prosecutors. “Thanks for taking my mother away, guys,” said Wise, 20.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kuhn called it a very difficult trial for the prosecutors, Pitino and the community.

A University of Louisville spokesman said the coach was traveling and referred calls to Pitino attorney Steve Pence, who said the jury did the right thing.

Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich said Pitino has been “100% truthful” and would not be disciplined.

The charges against Sypher carry a maximum sentence of 26 years in prison, but under federal sentencing guidelines, the penalty will likely be lighter. She will remain free until her sentencing Oct. 27.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

West Virginia student managers, graduate assistants and other non-coaching staff worked with football players on their skills and techniques in violation of NCAA limits during the Rich Rodriguez era and under current Coach Bill Stewart, according to NCAA allegations released Thursday.

The NCAA said this week that there were five major and one secondary rules violations committed by the Mountaineers football program from 2005 to 2009.

The NCAA said both Rodriguez and Stewart failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance. Similar allegations were leveled against Rodriguez during an earlier, separate investigation at Michigan, which in May admitted it had committed a series of violations related to practice time and coaching activities.

Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon said there would be no change in Rodriguez’s job status as a result of the NCAA announcements.

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Texas and Notre Dame have agreed to a four-game series starting in 2015.

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The Big Ten has selected Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as the proposed site for the conference’s first football championship game to be played December 2011.

ETC.

Mike Modano, the highest scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history, signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings. The team did not disclose financial terms of the deal in a statement to announce the signing, but local media reported he would earn around $1.25 million.

The 40-year-old forward, who led the Dallas Stars to a Stanley Cup championship in 1999, was not re-signed by the Stars after 20 seasons with the Minnesota-Dallas franchise.

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Atlanta Motor Speedway will host just one NASCAR Sprint Cup race in 2011.

The track announced it will hold a 500-mile Cup race at the track on Labor Day weekend next year. It marks the first time since the track opened in 1960 that it will not host two Cup events in a season.

The 1.5-mile quad-oval is owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc., which recently submitted several scheduling requests to NASCAR.

SMI owner Bruton Smith said recently he would like to have at least one Cup date at each of SMI’s NASCAR-sanctioned tracks.

The only one currently lacking a Cup race is Kentucky Speedway. A person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press on Sunday that Kentucky will host a Cup race next July.

Smith said he would like to have two races a season at Las Vegas.