Louisville to lose 2013 NCAA title for violations

Sanctions the result of sex scandal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville must vacate its 2013 men’s basketball title following an NCAA appeals panel’s decision to uphold sanctions against the men’s program in a sex scandal case.

The Cardinals will have to vacate 123 victories, including the championship, and return some US$600,000 in conference revenue from the 2012-15 NCAA tournaments.

The decision announced Tuesday by the governing body’s Infraction Appeals Committee ruled the NCAA has the authority to take away championships for what it considers major rule violations. It also refuted Louisville’s position that the NCAA exceeded its boundaries and didn’t follow its own precedent, and ended an eight-page decision with, “the penalties are upheld.”

“I cannot say this strongly enough: We believe the NCAA is simply wrong,” Louisville interim president Dr. Greg Postel said in a statement. “We disagree with the NCAA ruling for reasons we clearly stated in our appeal. And we made a strong case — based on NCAA precedent — that supported our argument.”

Louisville must forfeit its third NCAA title, victories and income from 2012-15, part of the time frame during which the violations occurred.

The decision culminates the governing body’s investigation that followed allegations in a 2015 book by escort Katina Powell that former Cardinals basketball staffer Andre McGee hired her and other dancers to strip and have sex with recruits.

“From Day One, the university has admitted that the actions of the former operations director and any others involved under previous leadership were offensive and inexcusable,” Postel said in the statement.

“That is why we apologized immediately, co-operated fully with the NCAA, self-imposed penalties that were appropriate to the offences and made significant changes to ensure incidents like this never happen again.”

The school’s investigation revealed that violations occurred and resulted in a self-imposed post-season ban nearly two years ago.

Louisville later imposed scholarship and recruiting restrictions.

While the NCAA accepted Louisville’s actions, it went further with harsher sanctions last June that included:

■ A five-game suspension of former Cardinals coach Rick Pitino, who was fired in October following Louisville’s acknowledgment that it was being investigated in a federal bribery probe of college basketball;

■ Four years’ probation;

■ The return of up to US$600,000 in NCAA Tournament revenue.