Furious Louisville 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.”
Tuesday’s Games
NBA notes
Hornets: Charlotte has shaken up its front office, firing general manager Rich Cho on Tuesday.“Rich worked tirelessly on behalf of our team and instituted a number of management tools that have benefited our organization,” owner Michael Jordan said in a release.“We are deeply committed to our fans and to the city of Charlotte to provide a consistent winner on the court. The search will now begin for our next head of basketball operations who will help us achieve that goal.” Charlotte is 24-33 and on the verge of failing to reach the playoffs for the second straight season. Jordan’s college teammate Buzz Peterson was hired last year as the team’s assistant general manager is a potential replacement. Former Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak could be another candidate to join Peterson in the front office in some capacity. Cho was hired as GM in 2011 and assumed day-today responsibilities of the basketball operations department in 2014.“I will always be grateful for my experience with the franchise,” Cho said. Cho and the Hornets have struggled with building a consistent winner. He was responsible for drafting All-Star point guard Kemba Walker in 2011, but the team’s inability to get the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft after a 7-59 season proved to be a backbreaker. Instead of getting perennial All-Star center Anthony Davis, the Hornets settled for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with the No. 2 pick, a significant dropoff in talent. They took Cody Zeller, now a backup center, fourth overall in 2013, Noah Vonleh ninth in 2014 and Frank Kaminsky ninth overall in 2015. Cho drafted Malik Monk in the first round last year, but he barely sees any action because of concerns about his defense. Cho traded this past offseason for center Dwight Howard, who has improved his play and had a decent season for the Hornets. However, the fiveyear contract given to Nic Batum last year has left the team strapped under the salary cap.