Allegations that Escorts Were Provided to Louisville Players and Recruits

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BleedGopher said:
Said one of the recruits who ultimately signed to play elsewhere: "I knew they weren't college girls. It was crazy. It was like I was in a strip club

Powell said she asked McGee whether Pitino knew about the parties: "I said, 'Does Pitino know about this?' And he said, 'He's Rick. He knows about everything.'"
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Sums it up.
 

- Prostitution has a 1 year statute of limitations there so she's clear for that
- Promoting prostitution (being a madam) has no statute of limitations

While this is clearly not ethical behavior I'm of the mindset that this isn't a big deal. Why? Because kids have had sex, weed and alcohol thrown at them during recruiting visits for decades. Jalen Rose recently talked about how the attitude he and most other guys had was that if they weren't at least put in a position to get their rocks off on these trips it was a negative in their mind. I'm a grown man that loves God right now but at 17? I may have thought the same thing. Why go to a college (and at that point you have the image of college as one where girls were throwing themselves at you) where you weren't 'having fun' on a trip specifically designed for that? So it seems to me that most schools are making sure these recruits get girls in some way, shape or form so ultimately, what's the difference?
 

Golden_Sloth said:
Star Tribune Exclusive: Is U's Richard Pitino the Kingpin Behind Dad's Prostitution Ring?

After several hours of investigation, we have found no evidence to prove that he wasn't. How will the U respond amid Title IX investigation?
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Pretty much. They've never gotten over the PP scooping them on Gangelhoff.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Even if Pitino didn't know about this, it's still his program.
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What's worse - knowing or not knowing? As you said it's his program.

Either way it may be tough for Rick Pitino to keep his job.
 

It's funny that Glen Mason has chimed in saying Pitino should have known. So, does that mean Mason is admitting he knew about all the stuff at the U during his time? Including all the strip club stuff?
 


There's no way a Grad Assistant was paying 10k out of his own pocket for strippers and prostitutes. That money had to be coming from somewhere else. If it was another coach, Pitino is screwed. If it was from outside the program like a booster, then that's probably not the only time money was given, and Pitino is screwed again. No way it ends well.
 

DLguy said:
It's funny that Glen Mason has chimed in saying Pitino should have known. So, does that mean Mason is admitting he knew about all the stuff at the U during his time? Including all the strip club stuff?
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We are not here to talk about the past...

g-spt-110105-steriod1-1p.jpg
 

I don't think it's unfathomable for a grad assistant or dobo getting some money from a booster to show the recruits a good time. Probably had a booster he went for that purpose only. Don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Pitino said this is your job, entertain the recruits. "Don't ask don't tell" situation. If the recruits had a good time he did his job.

Not that I agree, I just can definitely see that happening. I can also imagine Pitino being mad as hell if he knew it was going on. But allegedly he didn't.
 




scools12 said:
What's worse - knowing or not knowing? As you said it's his program.

Either way it may be tough for Rick Pitino to keep his job.
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I think knowing is still much worse but not knowing means he doesn't have good control over his program. Either way it doesn't look good.
 


In this day & age, I would never say never.

Pitino's previous dalliance/adultery/abortion isn't going to help him. ... that's going to resurface big-time if this thing continues to have legs. As much as our society has grown to care less & less about character, I think it still matters to a lot of people. I'd guess the Louisville administration might start to hear quite a bit more from those Louisville fans who think it does matter.
 

Greenberg: Pitino won't survive Louisville scandal
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13931445

Former Louisville recruit about his visit: 'It was like I was in a strip club'
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=13931445

"The former player who said he had sex with a dancer told Outside the Lines that McGee provided him with one-dollar bills to tip dancers and paid for one of the dancers to have sex with the player in a separate room. One of the other former players, who said he attended the parties as a recruit and player, said McGee "would give us the money, just the recruits. A bunch of us were sitting there while they danced. Then the players left, and the recruits chose which one [of the dancers] they wanted."
 



I have no idea but...

jovs said:
A lot of conflicting statements in this mess, Luke Hancock said he lived in the same dorm for three years while all of this was happening and he knew nada about it, never heard anything, if he knew nothing living in the dorm and playing on the team he doesn't understand how Pitino would ever be knowledgeable about it.
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I listened to the Hancock interview. He is working for a financial firm...launching his career. His integrity is pretty important in that job field. I can't imagine why he'd volunteer his information and get involved if he is not telling the truth as a team captain and resident of the dorm.

Obviously, something went down but I'll be shocked if Pitino signed off on it or was aware. So, if in today's accountabilty the coach is responsible for everything and innocent or guilty should be fired because he should have known because it's his program...how is the Athletic Director not then accountable too? He's the guy over seeing the whole operation...why isn't he supposed to know too?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2015/10/20/rick-pitino-louisville-sex-parties-katina-powell/74267474/
 

How do people think they can get away with this stuff? It only takes one person to 'blow the whistle', and you're not dealing with top secret type people.
 

per Zags:

Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich says the sex scandal that has ensnared his university in the national headlines won’t trigger a resignation from embattled head coach Rick Pitino.

“Coach Pitino has no plans to step down, he has a long-term contract here and he absolutely did not know anything about the allegations,” Jurich said.

ESPN’s Cris Carter, a Hall of Fame NFL receiver who purports to have no inside knowledge of the Louisville scandal, made a strong statement regarding Pitino Tuesday morning on Mike & Mike.

“You’re talking about the head of a company now, you’re talking about Louisville basketball,” Carter said. “Man, we’re not talking about Pepperdine, we’re not talking about Cal. We’re talking about Louisville basketball. A guy that’s won national championships, put a bunch of people in the NBA, one of the great CEOs out there, OK? Now to think that he didn’t know, it’s impossible. I’m going to say that. It’s impossible for Rick Pitino not to know if he was getting escorts delivered to his recruits in the dormitory that’s a private setting.”

ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas believes otherwise.

“I happen to believe that Rick Pitino didn’t know anything about this,” Bilas said on ‘Outside the Lines.”

Pitino has repeatedly denied all knowledge of the parties.

“Not myself, not one player, not one trainer, not one assistant, not one person knew anything about any of this,” the Hall of Fame coach told ESPN this month. “If anyone did, it would have been stopped on a dime. Not one person knew anything about it.”

Richard Pitino, Rick’s son and the head coach at Minnesota, told OTL on Tuesday: “I can say 100 percent sure with zero doubt that Rick Pitino knew nothing about these alleged incidents.”

http://zagsblog.com/articles/hes-rick-he-knows-about-everything-report-quotes-andre-mcgee-as-saying/

Go Gophers!!
 

On both sides of the coin, I would put ZERO value in whatever Jay Bilas and Cris Carter have to say about this situation.
 

station19 said:
How do people think they can get away with this stuff? It only takes one person to 'blow the whistle', and you're not dealing with top secret type people.
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I'd say it's a couple things-

1) Everyone is doing it. Damien Johnson tweeted he didn't see why this was a big deal. That he saw and heard about things similar to this and much worse than this. He also added that after the HC says "see you tomorrow" to recruits, he really has very little knowledge as to what the rest of the night entails.

2) it works. Look at UNC. Huge academic scandal and they are poised to contend for a national title with very little punishment. Cal's programs cheated and he's the head man at the most prestigious job in CBB. It works.

I also don't think Rick loses his job unless the NCAA somehow forces UL to fire him. When it comes to Rick's employment the only opinions that really matter are the big, big money boosters and to a lesser extent the fans who come to watch. And my guess is those boosters see how Cal is doing at UK, their biggest rival. Do they really want to fire the head coach who keeps them competitive with them over an escort service? I highly doubt it. Going through a rebuild while UK churns out pros and wins titles isn't a great look nor a great way to make money.
 

SelectionSunday said:
On both sides of the coin, I would put ZERO value in whatever Jay Bilas and Cris Carter have to say about this situation.
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It's ridiculous to say it is impossible for Pitino not to know. Unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.
 

SelectionSunday said:
On both sides of the coin, I would put ZERO value in whatever Jay Bilas and Cris Carter have to say about this situation.
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Agreed. It's also hilarious to see ESPN talking heads destroy Pitino while Calipari has put multiple schools on probation "with no knowledge of the cheating whatsoever" and he's their CBB poster boy these days.
 

SelectionSunday said:
On both sides of the coin, I would put ZERO value in whatever Jay Bilas and Cris Carter have to say about this situation.
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I'd give Bilas a much bigger benefit of the doubt than Carter on this (and most other) issues. But neither of them have anything other than gut instinct on this one.
 

scher215 said:
Agreed. It's also hilarious to see ESPN talking heads destroy Pitino while Calipari has put multiple schools on probation "with no knowledge of the cheating whatsoever" and he's their CBB poster boy these days.
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+1. Cal is still a far bigger sleaze than Pitino, IMO. The only real shock here is the formal nature of what went on (in the dorms, cash from the assistant coach, etc.) But I assume it happen on some level almost everywhere.
 

howeda7 said:
I'd give Bilas a much bigger benefit of the doubt than Carter on this (and most other) issues. But neither of them have anything other than gut instinct on this one.
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Not me. Bilas was outstanding at one time but not unlike a lot of ESPN personalities he's become too big for his britches. Now he's nothing but a kiss-ass of the big-name coaches, a younger and less annoying version of Dick Vitale.
 

There is a long tradition at southern schools - normally connected with the FB program, of having the hottest girls on campus serve as "hostesses" for recruits. You bring in a 17 or 18-year old kid, and here's Muffy or Bambi showing him around campus, with a pretty strong hint that playing ball at this school means hanging out with hot chicks.

Now, does every school provide means for recruits to have sex - paid or otherwise? I would say no. But I think it's more common than some might realize for sex to be part of the recruiting experience.

The difference with the Louisville case is the use of escorts, as opposed to finding college girls who are willing to show the recruits a good time for the good of the program.
 

It is ridiculous the lengths that Vitale and Bilas are going to defend Pitino. Those guys are going out of their way to pucker up to Pitino. Time to throw Pitino under the bus on this one. He kept his job through the whole "I cheated on my wife with a 15-second sexual encounter in a restaurant, paid for an abortion, then she married someone on my staff and tried to blackmail me" scandal, which was very embarrassing, but don't you kind of put him on a zero tolerance policy after that? Like Carter says, this wasn't a random location where these meetings occurred, it was in the basketball dorm that access to is tightly controlled and it happened repeatedly over a number of months. It is hard to trust Pitino considering his own past and his selfish interest in keeping his job making millions every year, personally I don't trust what he says in this case. If nothing else, McGee held a position in Pitino's program and I believe the head coach is responsible for violations any assistants commit according to the way the NCAA is operating now. Pitino should be fired by Louisville, it's a disgrace to the sport that Louisville once again stands by a coach in the face of an embarrassing scandal. I guess we shouldn't be surprised at the filth the Louisville leadership is willing to put up with considering they did hire back Bobby Petrino after he ditched them for the NFL and got fired from Arkansas for a scandal involving his mistress. Louisville is a bad example of what college sports is becoming, and the NCAA needs to do something about this. I haven't seen the NCAA ever force a school to fire a coach, but they should start doing it now, with this case. I mean really, is it really a meaningful punishment in giving a coach who already has a job a show cause penalty or suspending him for a handful of games? I think not. Maybe if the coaches were penalized with the loss of their jobs then college sports would get a lot less seedy.
 

I forgot the part about where the Louisville AD and Pitino were so fast and eager to blame Indiana for having some sort of selfish reasons for publishing this book. It was kind of implied that IU needed a negative PR edge to compete with Louisville in basketball, so they published this book with all sorts of sordid allegations. But then again they didn't deny this stuff happened in the first place, which makes them lashing out at Indiana doubly dumb.
 

Carter should be happy with Pitino because he found himself a fall guy in McGee.
 


Either way, Rick will be out soon and will be in NBA next. The good news is that Richard will be here longer now that UL may not want another Pitino there.
 

The-Real-Truth said:
Either way, Rick will be out soon and will be in NBA next. The good news is that Richard will be here longer now that UL may not want another Pitino there.
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False - Rick is in his last gig I would think
True- Richard is going to be here. He's now getting the players he needs to win and he will be wise to see it through and I think he wins big if he does.
 

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