NCAA accuses Louisville in escort case
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The NCAA accused Louisville of four serious violations and criticized the conduct of coach Rick Pitino for failing to monitor a former basketball staffer who hired escorts and strippers for sex parties with recruits and players.
The governing body’s report Thursday did not mention a lack of institutional control — considered the most serious violation in some cases. Pitino disputed the finding that he did not monitor Andre McGee, saying his tendency is to over-monitor. If anything, the coach said he was guilty of trusting someone to tell him what was going on.
“This man (McGee) made a mistake and we apologize for his mistakes,” he said during a news conference. Pitino has denied knowledge of the alleged violations.
The NCAA’s letter is the first step in a process that could extend into next spring. Louisville has 90 days to respond.
The letter culminates an inquiry that began with the publication last October of Katina Powell’s book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen.”
Powell wrote that McGee paid her $10,000 for strippers to perform 22 shows from 2010-14 — a period that includes Louisville’s NCAA 2012-13 championship season — with many occurring in the players’ Billy Minardi Hall dormitory.
Compliance consultant Chuck Smrt, hired by the school to investigate the allegations, said he did not think vacating the title was “appropriate” based on precedent.
The NCAA’s letter lists the value of the impermissible/extra benefits as at least $5,400 and cites multiple instances in which McGee hired strippers to dance and have sex with recruits.
Louisville already has imposed its own penalties. The most severe one was announced Feb. 5 — a postseason ban after the school determined violations occurred. A month later, the school announced the reduction of two scholarships and the number of days staffers could recruit.
Neville Pinto, the university’s acting president, and athletic director Tom Jurich said the NCAA’s findings align with the results of the school’s investigation. He said the school would fight the charge against Pitino.
“Improper activities took place in a dormitory that never should have occurred,” they said in a statement. “When the facts were established, we acted. We took appropriate punitive and corrective actions. The penalties we imposed were among the most severe penalties ever self-imposed by a NCAA member.”
Those self-imposed penalties were taken as a way of possibly lessening NCAA discipline and follows measures used by Syracuse and SMU. NCAA punishment went further in those cases, with ninegame suspensions each this past season for Hall of Fame coaches Jim Boeheim and Larry Brown.
It remains unclear if the NCAA will take the same step with Pitino. Jurich made clear the school’s intent to defend the allegation and show-cause order against Pitino and said he could not have known what occurred in the dorm because “if he caught a whiff of what was going on, there’s no question he’d hit the roof.”
The NCAA’s 20-page letter dated Oct. 17 alleges that McGee provided benefits to at least 17 recruits and players, two “nonscholastic” coaches and one friend of a prospect.
McGee did not cooperate with NCAA investigators and is subject to a show-cause order for two violations. McGee’s attorney, Scott C. Cox, had no comment.