In this March 1, 2009, file photo, then-Louisville’s Andre McGee pretends to have trouble hearing the cheers of fans after scoring during the second half of their NCAA college basketball game against Marquette in Louisville, Ky. Escort Katina Powell says she has no proof that Louisville coach Rick Pitino knew that a former Cardinals staffer hired her and other dancers to strip and have sex with former recruits and players. But Powell said Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, on ABCs Good Morning America that with a boatload of recruits and dancers, loud music, alcohol, security, cameras in a campus dormitory and others aware of the shows, how could he not know? In her first interview since the release of her book earlier this month, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen,” Powell says that the coach had to be aware of some of 22 shows she alleges that former staffer Andre McGee paid and took place in the players Billy Minardi Hall campus dormitory from 2010-14. AP Photo
LOS ANGELES, United States—A former basketball coach at the University of Louisville paid for exotic dancers to perform stripteases and sex acts for some players and their guardians, ESPN reported Tuesday.
The television network’s “Outside the Lines” program carried an interview with former escort Katina Powell who alleged an assistant Lousville coach paid her $10,000 to bring dancers onto campus for players between 2010 and 2014.
The coach, Andre McGee, who is currently on administrative leave from his job at Missouri-Kansas City, approached Powell about arranging “side deals” with current players, some recruits and their associates.
Those deals included stripping and performing sex acts, Powell told the program.
One Louisville player recruited by the university told ESPN one party felt “like I was in a strip club.”
Another former Louisville player told ESPN that McGee had given him $1 bills to tip dancers.
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said he was unaware of the stripping and sex parties, urging McGee to address the allegations.
“Not myself, not one player, not one trainer, not one assistant, not one person knew anything about any of this,” the Hall of Fame coach said.
“If anyone did, it would have been stopped on a dime. Not one person knew anything about it.”
Powell, 42, has written a book detailing the allegations, entitled “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen.”
The book alleges nearly two dozen parties took place between 2010 and 2014 at a campus dorm.
Louisville’s athletic department declined to comment directly on “Outside the Lines,” saying in a statement it was withholding a formal response to “preserve the integrity of the review process.”