Louisville coach Rick Pitino has been adamant in the defense of his basketball program, taking every opportunity to deny allegations by an escort that has led to calls for him to step down.
Friday, he decided to take a different approach — passing on the opportunity to address the allegations on the national stage during next week’s Atlantic Coast Conference preview.
A day after vowing to fans on his website that he “will not resign and let you down” in the wake of allegations that former Cardinals staffer Andre McGee hired Katina Powell and other dancers to strip and have sex with recruits and Louisville players, Pitino announced Friday through the school that he was not going to attend the Atlantic Coast Conference media day next week in Charlotte, N.C. His decision comes on the advice of counsel because of the allegations.
“I do not want the allegations we are facing to negatively impact the other 14 institutions on what should be a great event to talk about the approaching basketball season,” the 63-year-old Pitino said in a news release, adding that fifth-year transfers Damion Lee and Trey Lewis and junior Mangok Mathiang would participate.
McGee resigned Friday as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, saying he could no longer do the job as he fights “false” allegations by Powell that he arranged 22 shows while coaching at Louisville.
McGee served as a graduate assistant and director of men’s basketball operations at Louisville before coming to UMKC in 2014.
