The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
LOUISVILLE MEN TO VACATE 2013 TITLE
School officials say cooperation should have eased penalty.
Louisville officials are not happy with the NCAA’s decision that mandates the school vacate its 2013 men’s basketball championship in the wake of an embarrassing sex scandal, and interim President Greg Postel did not hide his disappointment.
While acknowledging the scandal was unacceptable, Postel believes the school’s cooperation should have counted for more than it did.
But Tuesday, Louisville announced that an NCAA appeals panel upheld sanctions against the men’s program. As a result, the Cardinals have to vacate not only the championship, but 122 other victories — and return some $600,000 in conference revenue from the 201215 NCAA Tournaments.
“I cannot say this strongly enough: We believe the NCAA is simply wrong,” Postel said. “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.”
It may have been a strong case, but the NCAA had its own convictions. The decision by the governing body’s Infraction Appeals Committee ruled that the NCAA has the authority to take away championships for what it considers major rule violations.
Louisville must forfeit its third NCAA title, victories and income from 201115, part of the timeframe during which the violations occurred. The decision is the culmination of the NCAA’s investigation that followed allegations in a 2015 book by escort Katina Powell that former basketball staffer Andre McGee hired her and other dancers to strip and have sex with recruits. Former coach Rick Pitino — fired in October following Louisville’s acknowledgement that it was being investigated in a federal bribery probe of college basketball — has repeatedly denied knowing about the activities described by Powell, but the blemish on the program will never be forgotten.
Besides taking down the red-and-white banner hanging beside the American flag and two other title flags in the Cardinals’ arena, Louisville must erase wins before and after that championship, along with other records. It wasn’t immediately clear when that would happen.
Louisville’s compliance throughout the process was followed by Postel’s defiant tone addressing the decision.
“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 his statement. “That is why we apologized immediately, cooperated fully with the NCAA, self-imposed penalties that were appropriate to the offenses and made significant changes to ensure incidents like this never happen again. Under the NCAA’s own rules, this cooperation should have been a factor in the severity of the punishment. Instead, it was ignored.”
The school’s own investigation into the allegations resulted in a self-imposed postseason ban nearly two years ago. Louisville later imposed scholarship and recruiting restrictions in an effort to mitigate further NCAA discipline. While the NCAA accepted Louisville’s actions, it went further with harsher sanctions last June that included:
■ A five-game suspension of Pitino. That measure included a show-cause penalty for Pitino.
■ Four years’ probation, along with vacating those wins and appearances in the 2012 and ’13 Final Fours.
■ Show-cause penalties for McGee, who is no longer coaching.
■ Postel estimates the return of about $600,000 in NCAA Tournament revenue.
Interim coach David Padgett said he talked to his team about the announcement and texted several former players from that title squad, reminding them of their achievement. “You won 16 games in a row, you went 35-5 and cut down the nets in Atlanta,” Padgett said he told former players. “You don’t need a banner to know you’re a national champion.”