University of Louisville: Breaking the Cardinal Rules

For the University of Louisville athletic department, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. As different groups (the NCAA, the university and potentially police) continue investigating allegations listed in the Amazon best selling book Breaking Cardinal Rules. In the book, a former stripper alleges to have interacted with Andre McGee, a UofL assistant coach, and setup sex for money with players, recruits and their parents. It’s as sordid as a tale as anything in college athletics, especially when the would be madame admits to using her own underage daughters in these transactions. What started off as wild allegations has become more concrete as recruits and at least one former player have corroborated the story, or at least parts of the tale.

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: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

I admit that when I first heard of the allegations, I smiled. I felt a since of glee because since John Calipari’s arrival in Lexington, a portion of the UL fans have gone out of their way to accuse Cal and the University of Kentucky of being dirty: Cal pays his players, UK always cheats, etc. So to finally have those fans have to deal with something at their school seemed like some sort of poetic justice. Suddenly, people that had made wild accusations about the Wildcats without evidence or proof demanded that we wait until the facts came out to pass judgement on head basketball coach Rick Pitino and the UL basketball program. Facts went from being optional to being necessary.

Taking a step back and examining the situation, it’s clear that there will be no winners here. A mother has prostituted her own daughters. A former player and up and coming assistant will see his career in basketball end. And a Hall of Fame coach could possibly see his own career end in the most sordid and seediest way possible. Beyond just the UK/UL rivalry, no one should take any pleasure in that. It’s a sad, sad story.

Rick Pitino is a great college basketball coach. He got Providence to the Final Four. He brought the University of Kentucky back from its absolute lowest point. And Pitino brought the Louisville Cardinals their first NCAA title in 27 years. This is not how a Hall of Fame coach should go out. True, he’s had his own off the court issues, but it’s hard to believe that a man that made his name by pulling a program out of NCAA probation might very well see his own career end by putting a program on probation.

This is not to assume that Pitino knew or approved of what happened. As we’ve seen in the NCAA’s ruling in the SMU case, the head coach doesn’t need to have direct knowledge of impropriety to be punished. It’s become the “coach should know all” philosophy. Rightly or wrongly, the NCAA mandates the buck stops with the man in charge.

Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

No one really knows how this situation will play out. It appears that the NCAA is already interviewing former UL recruits and it’s only a matter of time before players and staffers are questioned by NCAA investigators. And because of the ages of some of the parties involved, there might be criminal charges as well. It’s just too soon to even speculate what the punishment will be. Probation? Scholarship reductions? Will the NCAA vacated the Cards’ 2013 championship? It appears that everything, at this point, is still on the table. And with the NCAA notoriously moving slow during its investigations, this cloud of uncertainty could hover the Cardinal program for months or even longer.

As with any of these situations, you have to feel for those people not involved, especially the fans. With sports and fandom being so tribal (us vs. them). Being a fan of a program that has gone rogue or gotten involved in other illegal activities is an unnecessary burden to carry. We shouldn’t let the actions of a few color the entire Card Nation as being complicit in all this. Like the good folks of the Big Blue Nation, they just want to cheer on their team.

There’s certainly going to be more to come from this situation. Surely there will be more sordid details about what happened where. Just remember, there are no real winners when certain rules, Cardinal rules, are broken.