The University of Louisville has made public its response to the NCAA's Notice of Allegations. As expected, the most significant item contained in the response is Louisville's vehement denial of the NCAA's charge that head coach Rick Pitino did not adequately monitor former assistant Andre McGee.
U of L did did agree with 37 of the alleged 40 instances of impermissible benefits, but denied three that were based solely on the word of Katina Powell, who they argued was a non-credible source for a number of reasons.
To me, this quote on the first page of the response stood out:
"If the head coach sets a proper tone of compliance and monitors the activities of all assistant coaches in the sport, the head coach cannot be charged with the secretive activities of an assistant bent on violating NCAA rules."
That is a direct quote from the Committee on Infractions, and if that's truly the standard on which they judge things like that, U of L puts forth significant evidence that Pitino did exactly that.
These quotes from a redacted player were of particular note:
Louisville player (years not known) on Pitino’s handling of dorm issues (language warning). Story & full documents https://t.co/jmlWTQ7JtQ pic.twitter.com/xlgRJ4kCFC
— Eric Crawford (@ericcrawford) January 25, 2017
This seemed to be a common theme throughout the response when it came to the interviews of former or current Louisville players and assistants.
I'll have more once I'm able to actually read this thing, which you can do in full here.
