Sure, you’ve all heard the story at this point. A graduate assistant coach on Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals’ staff paid for strippers, prostitutes and “parties” for recruits and their fathers from 2010-2014.
Why is anyone shocked?
I’m not privy to what goes on officially in college recruiting, but I got a pretty good idea of what the game was from Nick Nolte, Shaq and Anfernee Hardaway in “Blue Chips” and from Jesus Shuttlesworth in “He Got Game.” To think that any of this has changed since the early 90s is absurd, it hasn’t changed, it’s evolved.
What 18-year-old, testosterone-driven male athlete wouldn’t be tempted by what Louisville was allegedly offering? If anything, it was a clever (albeit, very misdirected) marketing program from the coaching staff, if that in fact is what happened. But the ridiculous part is to think that Louisville is the only program doing this.
We’ve all heard stories of recruits for football and basketball being paid by recruiters and boosters with anything from cash to cars. So what happens when the kids get bored with cash? Offer them a more comfortable reason to stay aside from the free room, board, education and national exposure to make you a professional athlete.
I’m not saying I agree with what allegedly happened, or the preferential treatment that collegiate athletes get in general. But before anyone goes casting anymore stones at Louisville, I’d be interested to see how many more stories like this start popping up nationwide.