Louisville Releases Response From NCAA

The NCAA has responded to Louisville's response regarding the Notice of Allegations against the men's basketball program.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After responding to the Notice of Allegations levied against the men's basketball program, the University of Louisville has released the NCAA enforcement staff’s subsequent response to them.

Louisville received the response back on Dec. 1, but needed to finish the "necessary redactions" before releasing it to the public. This is not the final step in its infractions case, as it does not include any sanctions or decision to withhold sanctions.

Back in May, the men's basketball program received one Level I and three Level II allegations stemming from the recruitment of Brian Bowen and the Adidas pay-for-play scheme uncovered by the FBI in late 2017. Louisville then filed its response to the NOA in September.

When Louisville filed its response, it believed that its Level I violation should be "characterized as a Level II violation," that its first Level II violation "should be categorized as Level III" and are outright fighting its final two Level II violations.

However, the NCAA's enforcement staff disagrees, stating that they are “unaware of any factual information that warrants a lower penalty range for the institution related to the Level I and II violations present in this case.’’

In summation, the NCAA didn’t agree that Adidas was not acting as a representative of the university and the program, that former assistant coach Jordan Fair was just a bystander in a Las Vegas hotel room, and that former assistant Kenny Johnson did pay Bowen's father.

“U of L stands firm in its position that the majority of the allegations are not supported by facts or by NCAA bylaws,” the university tweeted in a statement after releasing the enforcement staff’s redacted response. “Since the federal indictments were announced in September of 2017, U of L has implemented extensive corrective measures throughout its athletic department and promotes a culture of compliance. U of L looks forward to the fair resolution of this matter."

In 2017 following an internal investigation by Louisville, athletic director Tom Jurich, head men's basketball coach Rick Pitino and assistants Johnson & Fair were fired. The program was, and still is, under probation from the Andre McGee & Katina Powell sex scandal in 2015.

The NCAA’s 70-page redacted release can be viewed here.

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