LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville has refuted NCAA allegations against its men's basketball program in the wake of a federal corruption scandal, requesting that the highest-level violation be reclassified.
The university also is challenging that former coach Rick Pitino failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance in his program.
Louisville filed a 104-page response last week to the Notice Of Allegations sent to the school in May. The document stated that college sports' governing body seeks to ignore wire fraud convictions against several people involved in the scheme — including a former Adidas executive — by suggesting they were representing its athletic interests. Louisville's contract with the apparel maker was a standard sponsorship agreement rather than a promotional deal, the response added.
“This argument is as novel as it is wrong,” the school wrote in its response. “Even if an institution has some responsibility for the conduct of its suppliers, that responsibility plainly does not extend to acts of fraud perpetrated against the institution itself.”
Louisville also seeks to have several second-tier violations reclassified even lower. The NCAA has until Nov. 15 to respond with the school responding 15 days after before a decision is made whether the case will proceed through the traditional Committee on Infractions or Independent Accountability Review Process (IARP).
The NCAA’s Notice of Allegations states that Louisville committed a Level I violation, considered the most severe, with an improper recruiting offer and extra benefits along with several lesser violations. Those lesser violations also include Pitino failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance.
The NCAA notice completed a two-year investigation following a federal corruption probe of college basketball announced in September 2017. Louisville acknowledged its involvement in the federal investigation related to the recruitment of former player Brian Bowen II. Pitino, who’s now coaching Iona, was not named in the federal complaint and has consistently denied authorizing or having knowledge of a payment to a recruit’s family.
Louisville has previously indicated it would accept responsibility for violations it committed but would contest allegations it believed were not supported by facts. The school also noted corrective measures taken in the scandal's immediate aftermath, such as suspending and then firing Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich.
Louisville also dismissed the NCAA's contention that former Adidas executive James Gatto and amateur league director Merl Code represented the school while funneling illegal payments to recruits at several schools.
“The enforcement staff’s remaining allegations lack factual support and overread the relevant Bylaws,” the response stated, "and rest on the erroneous contention that the conspirators were representatives of the University’s athletics interests.
"For these reasons and others set forth, the panel should reject the enforcement staff’s dramatically overbroad theory, and classify this case as involving a Level II-Mitigated violation."
