It sometimes cracks me up when I hear college coaches say the following quote whenever a scandal threatens to rock their athletic programs.
“I didn’t know”. “I have no know knowledge of the situation.”
Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino is the latest college coach to employ the plausible deniability card in responding to the allegations of prostitution used to recruit basketball players. In fact, not only did was Pitino quite adamant in his denial, he passed the buck to former assistant coach Andre McGee. Check out this quote:
“I don’t know if any of this is true or not. There’s only one person who knows the truth, and he needs to come out and tell the truth to his teammates, to the University of Louisville, to his fans and to his coaches that have taught him to do the right thing for years and allowed him to be part of something special here.
“He’s the only one with any answers. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. … Everything else is absurd. I don’t care about the legal issues. If he’s done something wrong, he has to own up to it and do his penance.”
“This is all about money. People will say and do anything for money. If these things are not true, and I keep using the word if, there’s only one person who can give solutions to these problems: It’s Andre McGee.”
McGee was the alleged point person in arranging those sex “parties” for recruits and distributing money to the hookers involved. Therefore McGee is the focal point of this scandal.
Despite the fact that McGee appeared to be the principal offender in this scandal, let’s be clear about something. Pitino should have known what was going on. And if he didn’t, it’s because he DIDN’T WANT TO KNOW.
College coaches are the CEOs of their respective athletic programs. Typically no one does anything without those coaches knowing about them. Everything including equipment, jersey designs, court and field designs, team colors, scheduling, type of food served in the pregame meals – you name it.
That is why I have a hard time when those same head coaches employing plausible deniability when it comes to recruiting scandals, saying they had NO IDEA of such things going down. There is no way a coach does not know if anything sideways goes down in their athletic programs.
So as much as it pains me to say this, largely because I like and respect Pitino a lot, Pitino should be fired. If not, then at least make him resign – which is also essentially a firing. I just have a hard time seeing Pitino surviving this, even if he didn’t know because after all, he SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.
All of that said, let’s make another thing clear: Louisville is not the only college campus that employs hot chicks as recruiting tools in college football and basketball.
When I was a student at NC State, I visited friends at UNC and witnessed a group of women called the “Carolina Blues” in action. They were comprised of white and black young women, and at the time were the finest women I’ve seen on ANY college campus.
A college buddy of mine who transferred to Alabama told me about the “Bama Belles”. He said that they were the baddest women on campus, and that dudes would do anything to get with them.
The University of Tennessee also had a “Hostess Program” that was disbanned after the NCAA came snooping. Hell my aforementioned alma mater NC State had a group of chicks that catered to athletes and recruits alike.
What I am trying to say is that shit like this takes place on most campuses. To those who believe otherwise, I’ve got some swampland in Florida to sell you.
It doesn’t make it right, and Pitino should be held accountable. But like shit, that type of thing happens (unfortunately). Period.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t address the “head ho” herself, Katina Powell.
Forget the fact that she is slimy as hell and is only doing this to get paid (she said it herself). And forget that she is, after all, a hooker. But this chick used her OWN daughters to perform sex acts on college players and recruits. You read that right: she PIMPED OUT HER OWN KIDS.
Either way you slice it, this is a cluster-BLEEP all the way around…
Categories: college basketball
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