New shocking allegations have come about against the Louisville basketball program in a new book entitled Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen.
Written by Louisville resident Katina Powell and journalist Dick Cady, the book, which Yahoo Sports got their hands on before the release, alleges that Powell provided women to the Cardinals’ team that were paid to dance and have sex with members of the Louisville basketball team.
In the book Powell claims that former Louisville staffer Andre McGee, who served as a graduate assistant under head coach Rick Pitino from 2010-2012, and then as director of basketball operations from 2012-2014, served as the middle man between her and the women who were provided to the team. Powell claims to have “hundreds” of text messages between her and McGee who is now serving as an assistant coach at the University of Kansas City-Missouri setting up the meetings.
Yahoo Sports provides further details from the book that describe the alleged meetings between the players and escorts:
The book alleges that over a four-year period, Powell brought women into Billy Minardi Hall – the basketball dormitory on the Louisville campus that is named after Pitino’s late brother-in-law – through a side door to entertain players and recruits. Powell also says her dancers – which included her daughters – also entertained Louisville players at other locations off campus. After the women danced for the players for an agreed-upon sum, Powell alleges that she would negotiate a second payment for the women to have sex with the athletes.
The book alleges: “At the peak of the dormitory and off-campus entertainment more than $10,000 cash changed hands to Katina for supplying the women. This does not include the hundreds of one dollar bills thrown at the dancers at each party by McGee, the recruits and players. Nor does it include the money paid to the women who had sex with the recruits afterward. So frequent were the escapades that Katina would later say, especially after the Cardinals won the 2012-2013 NCAA championship: I felt like I was part of the recruitment team. A lot of them players went to Louisville because of me.”
Among the players implicated are former Louisville star Terrence Williams, of which 19 separate parties are listed in Powell’s diaries and journals.
In terms of head coach Rick Pitino, there is no indication from the book that he had any knowledge of what was going down, but that will likely not mean that he is immune from punishment due to the NCAA’s “failure to monitor” rule, which has led to suspensions for Jim Boeheim at Syracuse and Larry Brown at SMU for this season.
The University released a statement on the issue on Thursday which reads in part:
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.
The University was shocked to hear of these allegations. The University’s athletics compliance department was immediately notified….The University of Louisville will continue its review in full cooperation and coordination with the NCAA, and if warranted, take any appropriate action.
In addition to the potential penalties against Pitino and the basketball program in general, if the allegations are proved to be true, the Cardinals 2013 NCAA Championship could be called into question.
Famously, USC was stripped of their 2004 BCS National Championship due to the Reggie Bush violations, and if the allegations against the Louisville program are indeed proven to be true, it would seem entirely possible that they could be met with the same fate.
(Via Yahoo Sports)
