In a story that continues to grow in momentum, five former University of Louisville recruits and players have come forward saying that they were involved in campus stripper parties. What makes the situation controversial is that a member of the coaching staff was allegedly paying for the parties with Coach Rick Pitino supposedly left in the dark.
The players spoke exclusively with ESPN’s Outside The Lines after news broke this week about the allegations of wild sex parties held at the Louisville campus between 2010 and 2014 and paid for by graduate assistant coach, Andre McGee. Coach Pitino maintains he knew nothing of this and has asked McGee to step forward and provide details. Despite this, many are calling for the firing of the popular coach.
More from ESPN:
One of the former players said he had sex with a dancer after McGee paid her. Each of the players and recruits attended different parties at Billy Minardi Hall, where dancers, many of whom stripped naked, were present. Three of the five players said they attended parties as recruits and also when they played for Louisville.
Said one of the recruits, who ultimately signed to play elsewhere: “I knew they weren’t college girls. It was crazy. It was like I was in a strip club.”
A book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen,” published this month by self-described former escort Katina Powell, 42, details nearly two dozen stripping and sex parties from 2010 to 2014 inside Billy Minardi Hall, the on-campus dorm for athletes and other students named for Louisville men’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino’s late brother-in-law. Powell, who first spoke to Indianapolis Business Journal Book Publishing, has said that McGee arranged the parties and paid her $10,000 for supplying dancers during the time period.
McGee has declined comment and currently works as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The NCAA and Louisville officials have launched investigations.
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Photo: ESPN
