Jenny Dial Creech says Rick Pitino should be held accountable for his reaction to NCAA punishment.

If Louisville had done the right thing ages ago and cleaned house in its basketball program, we wouldn’t have to talk about how Rick Pitino’s pathetic response to the punishment the NCAA handed down to the university Thursday.

A member of Pitino’s staff hired strippers and prostitutes for more than 10 parties with recruits at a campus dorm over the course of five years.

For that, Louisville was hit with a four-year probation, Pitino was suspended for the first five Atlantic Coast Conference games, and the team was ordered to forfeit four scholarships and will have some wins vacated (possibly including the final one from their 2013 national championship run).

Rather than accept the penalties, Pitino (with support from the school’s athletic department apparently) was defiant in his response.

He said Louisville would appeal, called the punishment unjust and unfair. Pitino is so clueless it’s scary. He allowed a form of sexual assault to take place under his watch. He put high school boys in compromising positions, where they were at sex parties with their peers watching and judging.

If I were a parent of one of those players, I would be losing my mind.

Pitino says he knew nothing of the parties, claiming that at 64 he doesn’t stay up that late.

If he can’t stay up late enough to have control over what is happening in his program, he shouldn’t be coaching. It’s that simple.

Coaches have been fired for recruiting violations much less severe than these — talking to prospects at the wrong time of year, or too many times. Coaches are consistently fired for not winning enough games.

There’s absolutely no reason Pitino shouldn’t be fired for not controlling his staff and recruit visits.

He should have been gone the second the university found out what was happening. The scandal was bad. But the response to the punishment might be worse.

There is no apology, no remorse and no signs that anything will change.

Shame on Pitino, and shame on Louisville.

Gerry Broome / Associated Press Of the penalties levied against his program for a sex scandal, Louisville coach Rick Pitino said, “Not only was this unjust and over the top in its severity, but I’ve lost a lot of faith in the NCAA.”