Pitino, who will sit out Louisville’s first five ACC games in 2017-18, was found to have violated head coach responsibility legislation for failing to monitor McGee’s activities.
The lawyer for Katina Powell stopped by WDRB News on Thursday, just hours after the NCAA levied its punishment in the scandal that started with Powell’s tell-all book. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the Cardinals are out of the woods.
Perhaps the most significant penalty is the “vacation of basketball records in which student-athletes competed while ineligible from December 2010 to July 2014”.
In her book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen”, which was published in October 2015, Powell detailed almost two dozen parties that featured dancers performing sex acts for Cardinals recruits and players from 2010 to 2014 inside Billy Minardi Hall, the on-campus dorm for athletes and other students. NCAA officials said those parties are considered impermissible benefits. That included 2008, when Memphis’ Derrick Rose missed a free throw with 10.8 seconds left that might have clinched the title for the Tigers; a year later, the NCAA removed that Final Four appearance because Rose’s qualifying admissions test score subsequently was vacated by the testing service.
“The entire U of L community is saddened by what took place”, Postel said.
Carol Cartwright, the NCAA committee’s chief hearing officer, said Pitino still bore responsibility for what happened under his watch. We have been open and transparent throughout this process.
The NCAA penalties Louisville faces include scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions, though some of these penalties were already imposed by the university. “It never should have happened, and that is why the school acted to severely penalize itself in 2016”, Postel stated. Additionally, the university will have no more than a total of 16 visits during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 years (self-imposed by the university).
As many have said, that does include the 2013 National Championship winning season for the Cardinals. “Not only is it unjust. over-the-top severe, but personally I’ve lost a lot of faith in the NCAA that I’ve had over the last 35 years with what they just did”.
McGee, meanwhile, received a 10-year show cause penalty that won’t allow him to be employed by an NCAA member school until 2027.
The NCAA handed down major punishment to the Louisville men’s basketball program and coach Rick Pitino on Thursday for violations involving players receiving sexual favors arranged by a former staffer.
Rick Pitino has insisted forever that he knew absolutely nothing about Andre McGee bringing strippers and prostitutes to Louisville’s campus for players and prospects.
Louisville officials and Pitino met with the governing body in April, and at that time once again denied the allegation that the Hall of Fame coach failed to monitor McGee. During that period, any NCAA member school employing the former coach must restrict him from holding any athletically related duties and from having any contact with prospects and their families.
The program self-imposed several sanctions previous year, including a postseason ban, and a reduction in scholarships and recruiting visits by assistant coaches after finding that some rules violations occurred. The NCAA could accept those measures or add penalties, including a possible suspension of Pitino.