Good times, right? Wrong! A distressing matter popped up during last off-season that figured to be problematic down the road. I was hoping to avoid having to comment on this for some time yet, but the University of Louisville decided to make a news dump on the Friday before the Super Bowl. Yeah, not suspicious at all, right? I figure the best thing to do as a Louisville graduate is to address the situation now. That way nobody can accuse me of ducking the issue and I don't have to comment on it any further.
What happened?
We're still finding out. What we do know is that a woman named Katina Powell claims she provided escorts for the university's basketball program for recruiting purposes at the request & payment of then-director of basketball operations Andre McGee from 2010-2014. McGee originally denied involvement but resigned his position as assistant coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City & has not commented publicly since. The university & the NCAA are investigating the allegations, and the university's investigation led to the decision to not allow the 2015-16 men's basketball team to participate in the ACC or NCAA tournaments.
So the kids on this year's team are paying for what people did from 2010-2014?
That's usually how it works in college sports. People do bad stuff, move on, and the people still there get to hold the bag. In this case, people are especially upset for Damion Lee & Trey Lewis, two grad students that transferred to Louisville from Drexel & Cleveland State in order to get more exposure and a chance at the NCAA Tournament. Their dreams got dashed late in the regular season because of this stuff that, as far as we know, they had nothing to do with.
How are people taking this?
Not well. U of L President James Ramsey was getting all kinds of heat for the decision. He's already in trouble for other issues, including misuse of funds going to a university charity, a job ad targeting minorities, a lack of minorities on the board of trustees & a controversial Halloween costume choice. I think I covered it all. He's having a rough time. On Friday when people thought he was the decider, everybody was calling for his resignation. Then on Saturday, Rick Pitino said that athletic director Tom Jurich made the decision, and many people calmed down a little bit because Jurich's approval rating in Louisville is a lot higher.
The players seem to be taking it well for the most part. They blew out Boston College on Saturday. Lost at Duke on Monday, but most people lose at Duke.
Did Andre McGee act alone?
A lot of Louisville fans are assuming he did. No evidence has been publicly aired implicating anybody else yet. But we don't know for sure. Maybe something will be revealed at the end of the investigative process. Can't rule it out.
Why did he need to get escorts for basketball players?
This is the part I'll never understand. See, if you're a basketball player at a school like Louisville, you're a God. I'm not saying that every woman is going to throw themselves at you because you're a basketball player...but it's easy enough to find one that will. You don't need to pay for it. Hell, you don't need to pay for anything if you're a basketball player at a school like Louisville. That's why I don't get all hot & bothered about the lack of payment for basketball & football players like a lot of people do. There are side benefits. Like never having to pay for a beer the rest of your life in the city. Like just about any woman you want.
So I don't know why Andre McGee, a guy that was the starting point guard on a Louisville team that got to the Elite 8, needed to get involved with a prostitute. Sure, he was pretty far down the pecking order in the grand scheme of Louisville basketball players, but he could have got something for free. And probably something of higher quality than what he was paying for.
Even more confusing is why he thought the NCAA would be cool with him paying people to do things with players. The NCAA gets mad when you pay for a recruit's meal. What do you think they'll say when you're paying for their sexual activities? Either McGee's a complete blithering idiot, or this thing's a lot more common than we think.
So you think it goes on at other places?
Honestly, I think most places are smart enough to not use whores. They send the kids to Sorority Row, or they have "hostesses" to host the kids at campus, or whatever. There are ways to get recruits a good time.
That being said, does this form of recruiting work? Not really. If it did, every single basketball player of note would be at UCLA or USC right now.
What's Rick Pitino's legacy now?
People outside Ohio State think of Woody Hayes as the dude that tackled a player in his last game. People outside Penn State think of Joe Paterno as the guy that let Jerry Sandusky do stuff. Everybody thinks of Bob Knight as the guy that threw a chair or choked a player or roughed up a student. Fair or unfair, we remember college coaches for the bad stuff. Rick will be remembered for this. Not for reviving Kentucky after their probation issues or for surviving a sex scandal to win a title at Louisville. Or even his failure with the Celtics, though that'll get some play with Bill Simmons fans. It'll be this, and lasting 15 seconds with Karen Sypher.
So what will the NCAA do?
Your guess is as good as mine. The worst-case scenario (other than missing future postseasons and future chances to win championships, of course) is declaring previous players ineligible and vacating previous wins. This may also involve vacating the 2013 national championship, which is something that most Louisville fans value more than their children. If I had children they'd probably be somewhere behind the championship. Just being honest. I don't like kids.
This brings up the issue of vacated wins. Is that something that matters to people? Just because all of Reggie Bush's wins at USC were vacated doesn't mean that USC fans don't remember winning a national championship with him. Kentucky coach John Calipari still has his Final Four appearances that were later vacated mentioned in his biography. If I was to purchase a sports almanac 10 years down the road, open it up and see the word "Vacant" next to the 2013 National Championship, would that take away my memories of my team winning that championship? No. The alcohol would have more to do with my memories being fuzzy than any decision the NCAA would lay down.
Taking away scholarships would also be on the table for sure, and seems like a foregone conclusion in this scenario.
I'm sure the university would argue that getting hit financially would be quite the burden as well, especially since the state's governor recently slashed public funding for universities. But, frankly, they're not hurting for athletic funding. Louisville's had the most financially successful basketball program for years now. They'll survive.
Some of the more dramatic people out there have suggested that the program would get the death penalty, but come on now. If Miami's football program didn't get it a couple of years ago, they're not going to put that on the table.
Is this the most embarrassed you've been as the fan of a sports team?
Good question. Let's go team by team:
Reds: The most embarrassing Reds moment of all time has to be Pete Rose getting banned from baseball for gambling on games as a manager. I was 5 years old when the ban was laid down, not really old enough to feel anything about it. If I was a few years older and had tons of fond memories of Pete as a player, I imagine that would rival this. During my time there hasn't been much embarrassment other than failed postseason appearances, but at least they were postseason appearances.
Bengals: They had a whole decade of losing seasons. That was pretty bad, but it got to the point where it was funny. There was also the business of seemingly everybody getting arrested in the mid-2000s, but I was more amused by it than embarrassed. Humor always seems to take over with this franchise.
Preds: Not a whole lot to be embarrassed about so far. The silliest thing they've done was send an e-mail to season ticket holders that had some poor spelling & ended with "Go Perds!". That's not bad at all because it reminds me of my favorite Parks & Recreation character, Perd Hapley.
As much as I love Lyndsay Rowley, she'll be my second favorite Preds announcer when they hire Perd.
Louisville Football: Losing your head coach every few years because a bigger school wants them is kind of embarrassing because it shows you're not on the level of the big dogs. But usually we end up finding another good coach and keep on truckin.
Louisville Basketball: The only thing that is in the same neighborhood would be Pitino's sex scandal a few years back. That also fell into the humor category, mostly because it had nothing to do with basketball. This time, it does.
So yeah. Most embarrassing sports thing for me.
So who will you be rooting for in March Madness?
My grandpa went to Xavier University, and the Musketeers are currently #6 in the nation with 2 losses. Good mid-major program for decades now. They've had some good teams in the past, but this one looks better than any of them. I'll ride with them. Dustin James wants me to root for his Oregon Ducks, but I don't really have a connection there. Maybe if he sends me a cool looking shirt to wear during the tournament.
That is all I have to say on this subject. It's a tough time for Louisville fans, students & alumni, but life will go on. Punishments will be handed out, time will be served, and at some point in the future, the Louisville men's basketball program will be among the elite in the sport once again. The only variable is time.
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