Rick Pitino is speaking publicly, again, about the ongoing case the NCAA is investigating regarding Louisville's escort scandal.
The 63-year-old went on ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike" show Tuesday morning and said his program was/is designed to prevent the very nefarious activity that was discovered to have occurred between 2010 and 2014. Namely, having paid escorts entertain, and in some instances, have sexual intercourse with, Louisville's players and recruits.
"You have your dorm security people, who are being interviewed by the NCAA, then you have your graduate assistants," Pitino said. "One unfortunate one was Andre McGee, whose sole responsibility was to make sure the kids get to school on time, make sure they get up in the mornings when they have a presentation or breakfast with a head coach or family.
"And then we have another graduate assistant. So the problem we had, is we did have people in place. And the one person we did have in place, whose sole responsibility was to make sure they do the right things, and unfortunately that was Andre McGee. That was the problem there."
McGee was removed from his post as an assistant at UMKC last fall, shortly after the Louisville story broke. ESPN reported on Sunday that three players have spoken to the NCAA and confirmed their stories -- that strippers were at parties on campus, and in some instances, received money to have sex with them.
Pitino is reportedly set to meet with the NCAA's investigation team next month. He's said on multiple occasions that he's still not been in contact with McGee. He also took a side jab at Kentucky.
"If I could just get Andre McGee in a room for 10 minutes, I would say to him: 'Why would you do this? What purpose did it serve? We didn't need this to get recruits,'" Pitino said. "We're not Kentucky, where we're recruiting the one-and-dones. We have a different way we recruit. It didn't make any sense what was going on. How these women infiltrated our program is very disturbing to me."
Louisville is not participating in this year's NCAA Tournament, as it put a self-ban on all postseason play for 2016 in advance of the NCAA's Notice of Allegations and ensuing punishment that could come as a result of the probe.
