New Louisville allegations lumped in with previous violations, resolution expected Spring 2022

The Louisville basketball program has quite the problem on its hands.

The University of Louisville has received an amendment to the Notice of Allegations it received from the NCAA on May 4, 2020, one that includes the program’s most recent violations brought to light back in May of 2021.

On the surface, the violations are rather insignificant. There are three separate Level II violations, one for allowing noncoaching staff members to participate in impermissible on-court activities, another for personalized recruiting videos and recruiting aids sent to prospective student-athletes, and the last for head coach Chris Mack’s inability to promote an atmosphere for compliance.

Individually, all three would likely result in slaps on the wrist by the NCAA, very minor punishments. The issue, though, is that the NCAA has lumped these current allegations in with its long list of previous violations. With these three allegations being added to notice, there are now seven total being reviewed: one Level I violation and six Level II violations.

In short, the NCAA will review Louisville’s case as a whole rather than isolate the violations into individual punishments.

The previous allegations include the following:

• Louisville’s Adidas scandal that involved a $100,000 impermissible recruiting offer and a $25,000 extra benefit to Brian Bowen II (Level I)
• Former Louisville associate head coach Kenny Johnson and former assistant coach Jordan Fair participated in impermissible recruiting activities from July 2016 through September 2017 (Level II)
• Former Louisville head coach Rick Pitino violated head coach responsibility when he failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the men’s basketball program (Level II)
• Louisville’s failure to monitor its recruitment of Brian Bowen II; failure to monitor immediately following its previous Level I recruiting violations (“striptease dances and sex acts for prospects,” 2017)

The revised Notice of Allegations includes the following violations:

5. [NCAA Division I Manual Bylaws 11.01.7, 11.01.7-(b), 11.01.7-(d), 11.7.3 (2018-19 through 2020-21)]

The CCU alleges that from the 2018-19 season through the 2020-21 season, members of the institution’s men’s basketball staff violated NCAA Bylaws by allowing graduate assistants, managers and noncoaching staff members with sport-specific responsibilities to participate in impermissible on-court activities with current men’s basketball student-athletes. Specifically:

A) Graduate assistants and/or managers of the institution’s men’s basketball staff actively participated on a consistent basis in impermissible on-court activities with current men’s basketball student-athletes including but not limited to on-court competitive situations.

B) From June 2020 through the 2020-21 season, the director of player development, a noncoaching staff member with sport-specific responsibilities, participated in impermissible on-court activities with current men’s basketball student-athletes including but not limited to on-court competitive situations.

This allegation serves as part of the basis for the head coach responsibility violation in Allegation No. 7.

Level of Allegation No. 5:

The CCU believes the IRP could conclude that Allegation No. 5 is a significant breach of conduct (Levl II) because the violations (a) were not isolated or limited, (b) provided or were intended to provide more than a minimal competitive advantage, and (c) were more serious than a Level III violation.

6. [NCAA Division I Manual Bylaws 13.4.1.9, 13.4.1.9.2, 13.7.3 (2017-18); 13.4.1.5 (2017-18 through 2018-19); 13.4.1.9-(b) (2018-19); 13.7.4 (2018-19 through 2020-21); 13.4.1.6 and 13.4.1.10-(b) (2019-20 through 2020-21); 13.6.7.9 (2017-18 through 2020-21)]

The CCU alleges that from June of 2018 through the 2020-21 season, members of the institution’s men’s basketball staff violated NCAA Bylaws by producing and showing, playing, or providing personalized recruiting videos and recruiting aids to prospective men’s basketball student-athletes containing the names, pictures and/or likenesses of the prospective men’s basketball student-athletes. In addition, members of the institution’s men’s basketball staff created personalized pamphlets and itineraries for prospective men’s basketball student-athletes to be used on both official and unofficial visits. This allegation serves as part of the basis for the head coach responsibility violation in Allegation No. 7.

Level of Allegation No. 6:

The CCU believes the IRP could conclude that Allegation No. 6 is a significant breach of conduct (Level II) because the violations (a) were not isolated or limited, (b) involved multiple recruiting violations, (c) provided or were intended to provide more than a minimal recruiting advantage, and (d) were more serious than a Level III violation. [NCAA Bylaw 19.1.2 (2021-22)]

7. [NCAA Division I Manual Bylaw 11.1.1.1 (2017-18 through 2020-21)]

The CCU alleges that from June of 2018 through the 2020-21 season, Chris Mack (Mack), the current head men’s basketball coach, is presumed responsible for the violations detailed in Allegation Nos. 5 and 6 and did not rebut the presumption of responsibility. Specifically, Mack did not demonstrate that he promoted an atmosphere for compliance due to his
personal involvement in the violations and/or the impermissible conduct being done at his direction.

Level of Allegation No. 7:

The CCU believes the hearing panel of the IRP could conclude that Allegation No. 7 is a significant breach of conduct (Level II) because it is a head coach responsibility violation and compromised the integrity of the NCAA Collegiate Model. [NCAA Bylaw 19.1.2 (2021-22)]

Involved Individual:

The CCU believes the IRP could prescribe head coach restrictions pursuant to NCAA Bylaw 19.9.5.5 regarding Mack’s involvement in Allegation No. 7.

…

5. Involved Individual [Mack]:

a. Aggravating factors.

As alleged in Allegation Nos. 5, 6 and 7, Mack, the current men’s basketball head coach , either participated in, condoned, or negligently disregarded violations involving graduate assistants and othere participation in practice as well as the creation and use of personalized recruiting videos and aids.

UofL suspended Mack without pay for the first six games of the 2021-22 season following an internal investigation. The school found Mack failed to follow University guidelines, policies and procedures. As a result of the suspension, the Louisville head coach will forfeit approximately $221,000 in salary.

As for a final resolution with the NCAA, Louisville says it expects this process to “realistically” continue through Spring 2022. 53 months from May 2017 – the start of Allegation 1 – through today, plus another six months until the spring. Nearly five years for the process to play out from start to finish.

The revised Notice of Allegations – all 15 pages of it – can be found in its entirety here.