Louisville men's basketball head coach Rick Pitino has been suspended for the team's first five ACC games in the 2017-18 season for failing to monitor his program during an alleged "sex-for-pay scandal."
Additionally, the Division I Committee on Infractions announced today that the Louisville Cardinals will be on probation for four years.
Here's what Pitino had to say about the suspension and probation, per ESPN,
"For 35-some-odd years I've had a lot of faith in the NCAA and have reacted that way accordingly as a head basketball coach in the belief of their rules," Pitino said Thursday during the school's news conference. "Not only is it unjust ... over-the-top severe, but personally I've lost a lot of faith in the NCAA that I've had over the last 35 years with what they just did.
"I'm gonna put all my faith in the appeals committee that they will do the right thing. ... We believe we will win the appeal because it is right, it is just. What went on [the NCAA's ruling] was unjust, inconceivable."
The NCAA ruled that Pitino "violated NCAA head coach responsibility rules" by not monitoring the activities of Andre McGee, a former assistant, who allegedly hired strippers to entertain recruits and Louisville players.
Katina Powell, the self-appointed former escort at the center of the scandal, has said that McGee paid her $10,000 for 22 shows at the Louisville dorms from 2010 to 2014.