OSU Loses Recruit to Louisville; NCAA Hands down Notice of Allegations Next Day

Just a day after OSU lost a recruiting battle to head coach Rick Pitino in four-star forward Jordan Nwora picking Louisville over OSU, the Cardinal basketball program has received their notice of allegations from the NCAA stemming from a year-long investigation process into an escort scandal.

The NCAA has charged the men’s basketball program with four Level One violations, according to a report from Pat Forde of Yahoo.com – the most serious level of violation handed down by the NCAA.

The scandal, which was documented in a book titled “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen”, was written by Katina Powell, who had firsthand information of the scandal in which former basketball staff member Andre McGee reportedly paid strippers and escorts to provide entertainment for recruits and players.

In the notice of allegations, the NCAA alleged that McGee, who was slapped with two Level One violations, “arranged for and/or provided impermissible inducements, offers and/or extra benefits in the form of adult entertainment, sex acts and/or cash” to at least 17 recruits or current players, two AAU coaches and a friend of a recruit.

Head coach Rick Pitino was charged by the NCAA with a Level One violation for failure to adequately monitor McGee, adding that Pitino “failed to frequently spot-check the program to uncover potential or existing compliance problems, including actively looking for and evaluating red flags, asking pointed questions and regularly soliciting honest feedback to determine if monitoring systems were functioning properly regarding McGee’s activities and interactions with then men’s basketball prospective and current student-athletes visiting and attending the institution.”

In a prepared statement, Louisville said it will contest the charge against Rick Pitino.