Louisville Receives IARP Infractions Ruling, Cardinals Avoid Major Punishment

Over five years later, the Cardinals' infractions case within the IARP has finally been resolved, and they avoided major punishment in the process.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - 1,863 days later, the waiting is finally over.

On Thursday, the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) - the NCAA's alternate to their Committee on Infractions that is designed to handle more complex cases - released their ruling on the infractions case against the Louisville men's basketball program. Given the punishment they could have been facing, the Cardinals got off lightly and avoided major penalties in the process.

Originally being alleged of committing one Level I violation (severe breach of conduct) and six Level II violations (significant breach of conduct), the IARP ruled that Louisville had committed the two Level I violations, but the Level II violations were converted into five Level III violations (breach of conduct).

As a result, the Cardinals were only hit with two years of probation, a small reduction in recruiting days and a $5,000 fine. Most importantly, Louisville did not receive a postseason ban.

Former Louisville assistant coaches Kenny Johnson and Jordan Fair were each hit with two-year show causes, while former Louisville head coaches Rick Pitino and Chris Mack both avoided punishment entirely.

"With the IARP decision announced today, the five-year process involving the University of Louisville's men's basketball program has now come to an end," the university said in a statement. "We are grateful to the members of the panel, led by Chairman Benck, who were fair and deliberate and who ultimately supported many of our robust arguments."

Louisville's punishment is in line with the IARP's messaging that they "didn’t want to hurt or punish these student athletes that are currently competing," a message that was established when ruling on NC State and Memphis' infractions cases. Both the Wolfpack and Tigers were starting down the barrel of major punishment, but both managed to avoid postseason bans.

However, there was reason to believe the IARP might break this precedence for Louisville and potentially slam them with a multi-year postseason ban. At the time of their first allegations in this case, The Cardinals were under already under probation from the Katina Powell and Andre McGee sex scandal, putting Louisville squarely in repeat offender territory.

Louisville's case mainly stems from the recruitment of former five-star prospect Brian Bowen II and the Adidas pay-for-play scandal that was uncovered by the FBI and Southern District of New York on Sept. 27, 2017. Employees of Adidas were alleged to have paid $100,000 to Bowen's family in exchange for his commitment to Louisville, among other allegations involving the Cardinals' coaching staff.

This resulted in the immediate suspension of Bowen II, and eventual dismissals of Pitino, Fair and Johnson, as well as longtime athletic director Tom Jurich.

The University of Louisville's Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, which was originally issued on May 4, 2020, was amended on Oct. 1 2021 to include additional allegations that arose from the extortion attempt on Mack by former assistant Dino Gaudio. Mack was alleged to have used graduate assistants in practice, as well as provide personalized recruiting videos for prospects.

Gaudio was sentenced to one year of probation and assessed a $10,000 fine, while Mack and the University would eventually agree to mutually part ways on Jan. 26, 2022. 

Ultimately, the IARP ruled against hitting Louisville with major sanctions due to their inability to prove that Adidas was acting on behalf of Louisville.

"Based on the facts presented in the case, the hearing panel concluded that the case record did not provide sufficient or credible information to conclude that the apparel company (Adidas) was a representative of (Louisville's) athletics interests," the IARP wrote in their press release. They added that Pitino had indeed "demonstrated he promoted an atmosphere of compliance."

The IARP also added that the recruiting violations under Mack were "isolated and inadvertent and provided no more than a minimal recruiting or competitive advantage," and that they did not provide a sufficient basis that Mack failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

Below is the full list of punishments levied by the IARP against Louisville:

• A $5,000 fine.
• Two-week ban on unofficial visits during the 2022-23 academic year.
• Additional two-week ban on recruiting communication (telephone and written correspondence) during the 2022-23 academic year.
• Seven-day reduction in the number of recruiting person days for the 2022-23 academic year.
• Two years of probation, from November 3, 2022, to November 2, 2024.
• Public reprimand and censure.
• Probation will be publicized by the NCAA on its website, in appropriate publications, and in NCAA championship game programs of the involved sports.
• Graduate assistant managers and other non-coaching staff members are restricted from participation in any on-court practice activities for 10 Louisville men’s basketball practices during the 2022-23 playing and practice season.
• Louisville’s men’s basketball program is restricted from showing personalized recruiting videos to prospective student-athletes during the remainder of the 2022-23 recruiting calendar.

(Photo of KFC Yum! Center: Christopher Fryer - Louisville Business First)

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleReport
Twitter - @UofLReport
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter