As far as press conferences go, it was wild. Wild because of the details of the allegations. Wild because of the timing. Wild because it featured questions about dancers and hookers and cash and a staff member. But it was mostly wild because nobody denied any of it.
To be clear, nobody acknowledged any of it either.
An independent investigation commissioned by Louisville AD Tom Jurich is ongoing.
But the most telling part of this bizarre, impromptu press conference held on Louisville's campus late Friday afternoon was that though Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino expressed shock and disappointment and insisted he's "heartbroken," he never said he doesn't believe what's alleged to have happened on his watch ever happened. In fact, at one point, a reporter opened a question by saying, "You've mentioned that you don't believe these allegations are true," at which point Pitino said, "I didn't say that."
And, by not saying that, Pitino sure did say a lot.
The book is called Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen.
It was published late Friday.
And it has already stained Louisville's program in a remarkable way.
The book alleges Andre McGee, Louisville's former director of basketball operations, negotiated transactions while on staff with a madam named Katina Powell who would provide women -- three of whom were, incredibly, her daughters -- for players and recruits. For one price, they would strip and dance. For another, they would have sex with athletes. According to the book, Powell has text messages and photographs that back her allegations. She claims McGee paid her more than $10,000 over a four-year span.
Pitino said McGee denied the allegations to him in a phone call.
Then McGee's lawyer, later Friday, provided a straight-to-the-point quote.
"[Powell is] a whore," Cox told the Courier-Journal. "She is interested in making money."
On the surface, I can admit, it appears both of those sentences are true, if only because Powell has acknowledged she's a whore (or at least somebody who handles whores). And, everything I've heard over the years, tells me whores are interested in making money.
So ... true and true.
Good point, Attorney Cox.
But, as always, that doesn't mean she's lying.
And the fact that nobody -- neither Jurich nor Pitino -- so much as suggested she's lying suggests they're probably still hoping for the best but mostly preparing for the worst. Coaches usually deny the initial allegations and only acknowledge issues later, if they're absolutely caught and they absolutely must, you know? They never believe what they're hearing in the beginning. They dismiss or discount and trust they'll be cleared.
But, again, Pitino did nothing of the sort.
And he went way out of his way to make it clear he was doing nothing of the sort.
So now the question is whether the NCAA can build a case off of the words of a self-described madam, and can the alleged text messages between McGee and Powell -- which certainly paint a picture of an inappropriate relationship rooted in what the NCAA would consider improper benefits -- be authenticated? If so, then McGee will never coach again anywhere in college, and Pitino's career could be in jeopardy. Because he'd then be staring down the barrel of what a source told CBS Sports would be an improper benefits case, and, even if Pitino was genuinely in the dark about everything, he'd almost certainly still be hit with the same "lack of coach control" charge fellow Hall of Famers Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) and Larry Brown (SMU) have been hit with in the past year.
That said, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
There's a lot to digest here.
But there's no denying Friday was an awful day for Rick Pitino no matter what the coming days uncover. Amazingly, for his entire career, Pitino's programs had avoided any real allegations of major rules violations, a rarity for active Hall of Fame coaches. But he spent this afternoon addressing some incredible allegations, and, the most telling thing about the entire thing was how he never said he doesn't believe what's alleged ever happened.
