Five former Louisville basketball players and recruits told ESPN that they attended campus parties where assistant coach Andre McGee provided strippers. One of the players told the network that McGee paid one of the women to have sex with him.
The report gives credibility to claims made by Katrina Powell in a book produced by Indianapolis Business Journal Book Publishing that said McGee paid her to provide dancers for recruiting parties. Powell, who calls herself a former escort, has said the parties took place between 2010 and 2014.
One former recruit, who went to another school, said of the scene: “It was like I was in a strip club.”
Louisville coach Rick Pitino has said he does not know about Powell’s claims and would have stopped the parties immediately if he had been told about them. She told ESPN that McGee assured her Pitino was aware of the parties.
But the five former players and recruits – who were granted anonymity by ESPN – gave detailed accounts of the parties and said McGee gave them money to spend on the women.
One player told the network’s Outside the Lines program that 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.”
Powell told ESPN that McGee gave money to not only the recruits but also their guardians and sometimes-active Louisville players to have sex with the women she provided.
Pitino refused to discuss the latest allegations with ESPN while his son, Richard, the coach at Minnesota, told the network : “I can say 100% sure, with zero doubt that (Rick Pitino) knew nothing about the allegations.”
Still, the fact multiple players and recruits have corroborated her story creates a greater problem for Pitino. If the parties happened and McGee did in fact pay for women to dance for players and have sex with them, then Pitino – as head coach – will likely be considered responsible for McGee’s actions. The NCAA has long held head coaches accountable for recruiting violations made by their assistant coaches.
The university has been investigating Powell’s claims and athletic director Tom Jurich has had little reaction to them. When ESPN reached him on Tuesday he told the network that Pitino had no plans to resign.
