Former escort Katina Powell said former Louisville graduate assistant coach Andre McGee paid her $10,000 to bring dancers to campus to strip and even have sex with some recruits or their guardians.
Powell told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that McGee, currently on administrative leave from his job as assistant men’s basketball coach at Missouri-Kansas City, approached her about “side deals” with current players and some recruits or their guardians.
Those deals included stripping and performing sex acts, Powell said.
One player recruited by Louisville told ESPN “It was like I was in a strip club.”
A former Louisville player told ESPN that McGee gave him $1 bills to tip dancers. The player also said McGee paid for one of the dancers to have sex with him.
Head coach Rick Pitino said he was unaware of the stripping and sex parties. He told ESPN’s Dana O’Neil on Tuesday that McGee needs to speak up because he’s the one person in the program who knows the truth.
“There’s only one person who can speak on this matter and that’s Andre McGee,” Pitino said. “He owes it to his teammates, coaches and the university to tell the truth. The truth has got to come out, and not just to the NCAA.”
Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon that said Pitino will not resign in the midst of the controversy surrounding his program.
“Coach Pitino has no plans to step down,” Jurich said. “He has a long-term contract here and he absolutely did not know anything about the allegations.”
Powell, 42, published a book “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen,” and said nearly two dozen parties took place between 2010 to 2014 at Billy Minardi Hall, a campus dorm for athletes and other students named for Pitino’s late brother-in-law.
Louisville’s athletic department declined comment to “Outside the Lines” but released a statement saying “To preserve the integrity of the review process, the university will withhold comment on any details until the review is concluded.”