Every Day I Wake Up & Say to Myself, "I'm NOT Going To Say WTF Today..."

And then something comes along and out comes those three little words.  Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot.  Well That’s Fantastic…And there’s another 3-letter phrase associated with WTF…   Usually followed by a string of other mumbled thoughts and words and ending with, “Why does shit like this happen!???!!!”

Today’s What-The-Fudge moment comes to us via the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions that has revealed the “penalty” of Louisville’s Men’s Hoops team and “Hooker Gate” that took place in a dorm room for about 30-36 months, depending on the account you read.

The Penalties - Let’s Count the WTF’s!!!!

1.    Rick Pitino suspended 5 whole games…  (WTF #1)

2.    Probation for 4 years  (Eh….What does probation even mean anymore?)

3.    Vacating of basketball team wins from 2010 to 2014 (with the National Title Game Vacating not being made clear by the committee.  Why you ask?  Because the committee asked Louisville to submit the games that would be vacated in that time frame in the next 45 days).    WTF #2.  The NCAA knows damn well what games are impacted and shouldn’t have to ask Louisville for the list….

4.    Scholarship reductions (not clear how many) 1 or 2 for more than 1 season?

5.    Forfeiture of all money received from the NCAA Tourney for 2012 – 2015 (Thumbs Up!  Something they did right!)

6.    And that’s kind of it.  (WTF #3)

And don’t forget that Louisville self-imposed a post-season ban for the 2015-16 season.

Apparently that’s the going rate for sponsoring a whore-house on CAMPUS IN A DORMITORY at the rate of $500-$1,000 a visit and consisting of 22 shows and “services performed” over the period from 2010 thru 2014.  (WTF#4)

And – Get This:  WTF #5:  Louisville plans to APPEAL the ruling and wants to REDUCE the scope of the punishment!!!!   Ricky (And this isn’t his first brush with the NCAA) is leading the charge!!!

 HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!

The NCAA was handed a friggin’ blueprint in the form of a book from Katina Powell, the madam that Assistant Coach McGee (who has been terminated and was also slapped with a 10 Year “Show Cause” penalty) reportedly paid all the Louisville money to.  And this guy had the balls to expense the charges and provided receipts on his Expense report!  

(That’s better than an automotive sales guy submitting “Michigan Bistro” receipts!!!)

Now, Let’s Address the WTF’s here, in order, to establish why the MMPG had to utter that phrase….

WTF #1.  Pitino only gets 5 games for letting one of his assistants run a brothel in a Louisville athletic dormitory.  In comparison: 

-B. Knight was fired from Indiana (after being put on a short leash by the AD) for grabbing a student after the student called him out or said, “Hey, Knight!”

 

-Another one of my favorite coaches, Boeheim, received a 9 game suspension for recruiting violations.  Granted, it was his 2^nd offense.  But it was still kind of lame and it was only 9 games. 

-Bruce Pearl lied about having a player at a BBQ at his house, got fired and a “show cause” penalty. 

-Tressel (hee-hee) got canned and received a “show cause” penalty for lying about and trying to cover up some gold pants getting swapped for Tatoo’s.

-Fisher got canned for the Ed Martin Payment Scandal but the NCAA never nailed anything directly to him, stating it was limited to Ed Martin and the players, even though Fisher was a well known individual to Fisher. 

Those are the ones I can recall off the top of my head.  Why Pitino was spared in all of this and why Louisville chose to stand behind this guy (kind of like Ole Miss standing behind Freeze) is beyond me and also beyond any logic you want to throw at me with the exception of the logic:

 “Pitino wins basketball games and titles.” 

That, I agree with.  If Pitino was losing, he’d be long gone and Louisville would be claiming that they did the right thing and are starting their program off on the right foot moving forward.    

Conclusion that would have eliminated WTF #1:  If there was any justice, Pitino would be looking for a studio job having been canned and given a 5 year show cause penalty. 

WTF #2:  I’m at a loss for words on this one.  The NCAA knows exactly which 108 wins and one national title are involved here and for some reason has told Louisville to submit that information to the NCAA.  This doesn’t even make any sense. 

Conclusion that would have eliminated WTF #2:  Just vacate the wins and the title.  And give the 2013 Title to Michigan, the runner-up.

WTF #3:  In the MMPG’s humble opinion, the NCAA had the PERFECT case to re-establish their authority and credibility with respect to under handed, lascivious shenanigans going on at different schools and send a message that, “THIS IS IT.  THIS IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IF YOU STRAY FROM THE VIRTUOUS AND RIGHTOUS nature of what the NCAA is trying to nurture in Collegiate Athletics.  Instead, they handed down what I thought was a pretty limited penalty, especially when it came to Pitino.  5 games won’t even let Rick take a 2 week extended vacation at the beginning of the season. If anything, he can get some scouting in during other pre-Season tourneys and figure out what he’s going to do with his top 5 returning team.   Yes, the NCAA Tourney money is something, but that won’t hurt an institution like Louisville.

Why this is more egregious then Penn State:  While others will disagree, this is a far MORE EGREGIOUS act of cheating and creating an atmosphere to attract talent to your campus that might not otherwise go to your school.  This is EXACTLY what the NCAA should be policing for and handing out death penalties for.  Similar to Miami Stripper Gate.

   

Conclusion that would have eliminated WTF #3:  Let’s see, using NCAA logic, Emmert single-handedly handed down a “suspend 10 scholarships/year for 4 years”.  In basketball equivalent numbers, that’s probably 2 scholars and change per year.  So, give them 10 scholarship reductions for 4 years, however you want to do it Louisville.  The NCAA slapped PSU with a $60M penalty.  Make Louisville’s penalty $120M and slap every coach with a show cause and they have to carry that around for the rest of their life.

WTF #4:  The pure nature of this crime, which was literally using an escort service to entertain college kids between the ages of 18-22 and to get hand jobs, blow-jobs or good old fashioned bumping uglies sex is simply too big of a deal to not penalize a school big time.  The fact that it went on for nearly 3 years is proof enough to me that not only did Pitino have to know SOMETHING, he was probably endorsing it behind the scenes.  How else does Louisville manage to win some of the recruits they won (I won’t go into it all here, but some highly touted recruits from locations that UNC and Kentucky are successful in went to Louisville). 

Conclusion that would have eliminated WTF#4:  Nothing short of a “Show Cause” for at least 5 years for Pitino would have been enough for the MMPG. Let’s not forget that Pitino was in another Scandal where he slept with the wife of the Equipment Manager and then she was extorting him for money to keep it quiet!!!  

Although it had nothing to do with the University of Louisville, his extortion trial against the wife of Louisville equipment manager Tim Sypher sought money from Pitino after having an affair with him in a restaurant bathroom.

Karen Dunagin Sypher was found guilty of lying to federal agents and extortion on August 6th, 2010, she faces a maximum of 26 years in prison.

On top of that, I hate to see scholarships taken away from schools and students for things that have happened 5-10 year before their arrival.  Take DOUBLE the money that Louisville received from the NCAA Tourney.  That will hurt….

WTF #5:  Louisville is appealing?  Surely, you can’t be serious! 

 I am serious and don’t call me “Shirley!”

The balls on Louisville, a school that has flirted with disaster for other crap that was going on in its basketball and football programs is going to thumb its nose at the NCAA and more or less tell them we’ve done enough.  Pitino said as much in his presser.  What a joke…

Conclusion that would have eliminated WTF#5:  Take your lumps, Louisville.  Be humble, be contrite and move on. 

So, where does that leave us?  The MMPG is more convinced that the NCAA is a shell of it’s former self and is afraid to overstep their bounds and piss off the wrong people, for whatever reason.  All this penalty will do is embolden teams that are already living on the edge and tells them exactly how to manage it: 

Set up a single Fall Guy, arrange cash payments and make sure kids don’t put anything on social media.  And use professional hookers and not students so there won’t be any “sexual assault” or “Title IX” discussions afterwards.

Looks pretty easy to me.  That formula wins you a National Title every 5-6 seasons and you get a wrist slap for it. 

Sheesh…

Well That’s Fantastic.