Louisville to appeal penalties in escort scandal

The NCAA didn’t feel Louisville went far enough with its self-imposed sanctions following a sex scandal investigation, so the governing body Thursday handed down a few more.

An outraged Rick Pitino feels the NCAA went too far.

After completing its investigation of Katina Powell’s allegations that she and other escorts were hired to have sex parties and strip for Louisville recruits and players, antics the NCAA described as “repugnant,” it benched the Cardinals men’s basketball coach for five games and imposed several other penalties.

Pitino’s suspension is less than Jim Boeheim and Larry Brown recently received for NCAA violations.

Still, Louisville said it is appealing the NCAA’s decision, and even that wasn’t enough for Pitino. He fired a few salvos at the NCAA after reviewing the report.

“Not only was this unjust and over the top in its severity,” the coach said at a news conference, “but I’ve lost a lot of faith in the NCAA.”

Pitino, who has repeatedly denied any knowledge of former assistant Andre McGee’s interactions with Powell, wasn’t done.

“We are devastated by the news, all of us are,” the Hall of Fame coach added. “But moving forward we believe we will win the appeal because it’s right and it’s just, and what went on was unjust and inconceivable.”

The NCAA suspended Pitino for five Atlantic Coast Conference games; Boeheim and Brown each served nine-game suspensions for their indiscretions.

Louisville had self-imposed several sanctions, including a postseason ban in 2015-16.

The NCAA accepted those, and tacked on more. The other penalties Louisville received include vacating wins in which ineligible players participated, placing the basketball program on four years’ probation, and issuing a 10-year show-cause order for McGee, Louisville’s former basketball operations director.

The NCAA has not vacated the Cardinals’ 2013 national championship — yet. And that might be one reason Pitino and Louisville officials are adamant about appealing the decision.

The NCAA said the school must determine which games ineligible players participated in, and that might include the Cardinals title game. Players deemed ineligible would be those involved in the sex parties, considered impermissible benefits.

NFL

FIRST TWO CLAIMS IN CONCUSSION SETTLEMENT TOTAL $9 MILLION » The first two claims in the NFL’s billion-dollar concussion settlement were announced Thursday, a total of $9 million in benefits.

The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania overseeing the process was notified Thursday through a joint status report filed by the class and the NFL that the claims were approved. The names of the former players were not disclosed as part of the filings.

The payouts were for $5 million for a qualifying diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and $4 million for a qualifying diagnosis of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy).

Those amounts mean that both individuals played a minimum of five NFL seasons and were diagnosed before their 45th birthdays.

Because CTE can only be diagnosed once someone has died, the player’s estate would be collecting that payout.