The University of Louisville and NCAA are investigating allegations made in a new book that a former men’s basketball staff member paid escorts to dance and have sex with players and recruits. “I have no comment”.
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Cardinals coach Rick Pitino said the situation caused sleeplessness when he first found out and said that he tried to conduct his own investigation before being rebuffed by the school’s compliance office.
All of this is still pretty new, as we’re just hearing about this on Friday, but Louisville appears to be trying to take this down as quickly as possible.
Chuck Smrt will lead the investigation.
Wait, what? The Indianapolis Business Journal published a report this afternoon alleging former Louisville basketball ops director Andre McGee was purchasing strippers and prostitutes for recruits. That includes LSU freshman Antonio Blakeney, a former verbal commitment to Louisville, who the NCAA has recently spoken with. Pitino said McGee did not admit to any wrongdoing.
He said McGee denied the allegations in a brief conversation.
Pitino’s investigative pursuits were short-lived as the UofL compliance department “shut (him) down” shortly thereafter. “I find it hard to believe that nobody in our program was aware if something like this was going on”, he said. “But obviously, judging by this book, that’s not the case”.
“The University of Louisville first learned of these allegations when the Indianapolis Business Journal contacted the University’s sports information department seeking comment in late August“. A former player for the Cardinals, McGee was a graduate assistant under Rick Pitino from 2010-12 and director of basketball operations from 2012-14.
The woman said that she and three of her daughters, along with other women, danced and stripped for Louisville recruits and players and performed sex acts with them, according to the book.
In it, Powell, an escort, says she kept five journals logging her “escort escapades, sexual encounters, murdered relatives and activities at the University of Louisville”, the release says.
At those parties, Powell said, high school-aged recruits were offered alcohol by McGee, who also arranged additional payment to her and her dancers if the recruits wanted to have sex with them.
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“I venture to say that not one person came here because of these women”, Pitino said. The Louisville coach added that he had spoken with 15 people about the allegations and that none of them had any knowledge of what is claimed in the book.
