By RUSS BROWN, Kentucky Today
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) – The worst fears of the University of Louisville, its sports fans and the city in general were realized Tuesday when it was announced that the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee had upheld the organization’s previous penalties against the U of L men’s basketball team in the Andre McGee sex parties case.
That means U of L must vacate 123 victories from the 2011-15 seasons, including the 2013 national championship and the 2012 Final Four appearances. The national title banner hanging in the KFC Yum! Center will come down, the championship trophy won’t be displayed and interim athletic director Vince Tyra said the school is compiling a list of what else must be addressed.
Tyra said that all individual recognition and team accomplishments must be removed from school facilities and records. U of L will also no longer be able to publicize and promote the 2013 title.
U of L was fined approximately $600,000, far less than published reports of millions in anticipated penalties. However, the appeals committee upheld the Committee on Infractions penalty that requires the university to return to the NCAA money received through conference revenue sharing for its appearances in the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 NCAA Tournament. That amount hasn’t yet been determined.
The NCAA’s decision was unprecedented, the first time in Division I men’s basketball history that a championship was ordered to be vacated.
“The facts of this case are simply terrible,” U of L interim president Greg Postal said in announcing the failure of the appeals during a news conference at noon Tuesday. But he added that he disagrees with the ruling, saying, “I can’t say this strongly enough. The NCAA is simply wrong to have made this decision.”
Postel said he thought U of L had presented a strong case to the appeals committee, especially since the university had cooperated fully with the NCAA investigation and self-imposed its own penalties, including banning the basketball team from postseason competition in 2016.
“This feels terrible,” Postel said. “This is a dark cloud that has been hanging over our head for the last two years. There are brighter days ahead.”
Postel said the case was so repugnant that even though he felt U of L made a strong argument for overturning the decision, it didn’t matter.
The case revolved around McGee, who was then a member of former coach Rick Pitino’s staff, hiring strippers and escorts to entertain recruits and players in Minardi Hall for nearly four years.
“The overriding nature of the (violations) was so appalling that the details (of the appeal) became insignificant. It’s not the kind of act one would wish to be associated with. But we felt confident. I don’t know what else we could have done.”
Tyra said his emotions ranged from “mad to sad.”
“We were optimistic,” he said. “We got in there and fought back and we felt good about the case. “It’s awful to have to go through this. This will bring closure, but it won’t end our memories of the success of those athletes.”
Part of the NCAA ruling read: “The Committee on Infractions responded to the appeal by stating the penalties were appropriate due to the serious, intentional and numerous violations orchestrated by a university staff member for nearly four years. It further argued that student-athletes do not have to be culpable for the vacation penalty to be appropriate, and because the serious nature of the violations resulted in the participation of ineligible student-athletes, the vacation of records penalty was appropriate.”
