Andre McGee, a former Louisville player and assistant coach, is alleged to have paid escorts to entertain recruits and players. Photo by Jim O'Connor/USA Today Sports
The Louisville basketball program has found itself at the center of an NCAA investigation into whether or not the Cardinals have been hiring escorts in an effort to recruit high school players. According to Yahoo Sports, the allegations are detailed a book, titled Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen, set to be released as early as Saturday.The book was written as a partnership between Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dick Cady and head of stripper and escort services Katina Powell, who purportedly interacted with the players from 2010 to 2014. Using Powell's journals and text messages, Cady and Powell assembled an account of dances and sex acts performed by Powell and various women—including her daughters—for the young players and, in some cases, their fathers. Powell claims that she was hired over those four years directly by then assistant coach and former player Andre McGee. McGee left Louisville in 2014 to become an assistant coach at University of Missouri Kansas City; shortly after news of the allegations broke, the school announced that he had been placed on administrative leave.Powell told the Indianapolis Business Journal, which is connected to the book's publisher IBJ Book Publishing LLC, that part of her motivation for doing the book is to make money."I decided to write the book to tell my story and to let people know what goes on inside of college basketball … and how they get their new recruits," Powell added. "It's important for people to know … how young kids are persuaded to do certain things by sex, drugs and alcohol."Head coach Rick Pitino said in a press conference today that he had no prior knowledge of the events. Louisville has hired an independent consultant to investigate the matter.