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It’s no secret that major universities will do whatever it takes to land the top recruits. To the surprise of absolutely no one that usually includes beautiful women and elaborate parties. NCAA powerhouse Louisville and men’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino are currently under investigation for their recruiting tactics which allegedly go further than that.
In a book entitled “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen”, author Katina Powell claims that she supplied dancers for players and recruits. Powell claims that the girls were offered “side deals” which meant the strippers would have sex with the players. She claims that all of the girls were over 18 and consented to everything.
However, the major problem in this is the strippers’ services were paid for by the team’s former graduate assistant coach Andre McGee. McGee allegedly also paid up to $10,000 for the dancers to come to the school. McGee no longer works at Louisville, but is currently an assistant coach at the University of Missouri- Kansas City.
Head coach Rick Pitino denies any knowledge of these parties. In a conference call with ESPN and Yahoo Sports, Pitino said, “There’s only one person who knows the truth, and he needs to come out and tell the truth to his teammates, to the University of Louisville, to his fans and to his coaches that have taught him to do the right thing for years and allowed him to be part of something special here.”
Do I believe Pitino had absolutely no knowledge of these parties? Not really, but I do not believe he has any intentions of stepping down. The university won’t fire him as he is one of their best recruiting tactics. The school will wait for this to all blow over and everything will go on business as usual. Only the NCAA can really discipline Pitino and the program similar to how Larry Brown was suspended for claiming ignorance.
