Louisville Sex Scandal
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:23 pm
http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/med ... ed-monitor
The NCAA suspended University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino for the first five Atlantic Coast Conference games next season following an investigation into the program's basketball escorts case.
Pitino's suspension is just one penalty levied against the program, which was put on probation. Former staffer Andre McGee was hit with a 10-year show cause penalty after the NCAA said Pitino failed to monitor McGee, a former director of basketball operations at Louisville.
The NCAA investigated the program after a woman alleged that McGee hired strippers for sex parties with players and recruits and subsequently charged the school with four Level 1 violations including one against Pitino.
The penalties handed down Thursday include four years of probation for the university, men’s basketball scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions and a fine of $5,000. Louisville also received a public reprimand and censure.
Louisville, who won the 2013 NCAA men's basketball title, will also vacate basketball records in which players competed while ineligible from December 2010 and July 2014. They have 45 days to submit a report to the NCAA concerning the games impacted.
A former Louisville director of basketball operations acted unethically when he committed serious violations by arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects, student-athletes and others, and did not cooperate with the investigation, according to a Division I Committee on Infractions panel. The head men’s basketball coach violated NCAA head coach responsibility rules when he did not monitor the activities of his former operations director.
Penalties prescribed by the panel include four years of probation for the university; a suspension from the first five Atlantic Coast Conference games of the 2017-18 season for the head coach; a 10-year show-cause order for the former operations director; a one-year show-cause order for a former program assistant; a vacation of basketball records in which student-athletes competed while ineligible from December 2010 and July 2014; men’s basketball scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions; a fine of $5,000, plus the university must return money received through conference revenue sharing for its appearances in the 2012 to 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championships. The panel also accepted the university’s self-imposed 2015-16 postseason ban.
The former operations director was integral to on-campus recruiting and regularly interacted with visiting prospects. The head coach hired him and placed him in Minardi Hall, a dorm where the basketball team lived, to make sure it was run properly and watch for any potential NCAA violations. By his own admission, the head coach and his assistants did not interact with prospects from 10 p.m. until the next morning. The panel noted that the head coach essentially placed a peer of the student-athletes in a position of authority over them and visiting prospects, and assumed that all would behave appropriately in an environment that was, for all practical purposes, a basketball dorm.
This arrangement played a role in creating a location where the former operations director’s activities went undetected. The operations director arranged adult entertainment and/or sex acts for 15 prospects, three enrolled student-athletes, a friend visiting with one of the prospects and two nonscholastic coaches. At least seven, and perhaps as many as 10, of the 15 prospects were under the age of 18 at the time. None of the prospects visiting campus knew that the activities would occur and none of them expected the activities to occur on their visits. Some of them expressed surprise and discomfort at what transpired. The panel noted it has not previously encountered a case like this, and that the violations were severe and were intended to provide a substantial recruiting advantage for the university.
The NCAA suspended University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino for the first five Atlantic Coast Conference games next season following an investigation into the program's basketball escorts case.
Pitino's suspension is just one penalty levied against the program, which was put on probation. Former staffer Andre McGee was hit with a 10-year show cause penalty after the NCAA said Pitino failed to monitor McGee, a former director of basketball operations at Louisville.
The NCAA investigated the program after a woman alleged that McGee hired strippers for sex parties with players and recruits and subsequently charged the school with four Level 1 violations including one against Pitino.
The penalties handed down Thursday include four years of probation for the university, men’s basketball scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions and a fine of $5,000. Louisville also received a public reprimand and censure.
Louisville, who won the 2013 NCAA men's basketball title, will also vacate basketball records in which players competed while ineligible from December 2010 and July 2014. They have 45 days to submit a report to the NCAA concerning the games impacted.
A former Louisville director of basketball operations acted unethically when he committed serious violations by arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects, student-athletes and others, and did not cooperate with the investigation, according to a Division I Committee on Infractions panel. The head men’s basketball coach violated NCAA head coach responsibility rules when he did not monitor the activities of his former operations director.
Penalties prescribed by the panel include four years of probation for the university; a suspension from the first five Atlantic Coast Conference games of the 2017-18 season for the head coach; a 10-year show-cause order for the former operations director; a one-year show-cause order for a former program assistant; a vacation of basketball records in which student-athletes competed while ineligible from December 2010 and July 2014; men’s basketball scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions; a fine of $5,000, plus the university must return money received through conference revenue sharing for its appearances in the 2012 to 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championships. The panel also accepted the university’s self-imposed 2015-16 postseason ban.
The former operations director was integral to on-campus recruiting and regularly interacted with visiting prospects. The head coach hired him and placed him in Minardi Hall, a dorm where the basketball team lived, to make sure it was run properly and watch for any potential NCAA violations. By his own admission, the head coach and his assistants did not interact with prospects from 10 p.m. until the next morning. The panel noted that the head coach essentially placed a peer of the student-athletes in a position of authority over them and visiting prospects, and assumed that all would behave appropriately in an environment that was, for all practical purposes, a basketball dorm.
This arrangement played a role in creating a location where the former operations director’s activities went undetected. The operations director arranged adult entertainment and/or sex acts for 15 prospects, three enrolled student-athletes, a friend visiting with one of the prospects and two nonscholastic coaches. At least seven, and perhaps as many as 10, of the 15 prospects were under the age of 18 at the time. None of the prospects visiting campus knew that the activities would occur and none of them expected the activities to occur on their visits. Some of them expressed surprise and discomfort at what transpired. The panel noted it has not previously encountered a case like this, and that the violations were severe and were intended to provide a substantial recruiting advantage for the university.