It is very true that you cannot rip UofL’s 3rd national championship from the hearts of the fans and the players who experienced it.
But it’s also true that the damage created by a loose culture, lack of supervision of a renegade assistant coach, and the uncanny ability of u of l’s top leaders to look the other way and give second and third chances, doomed this school years ago. instead of firing people, new contracts and raises were given.
Look at it this way, the $600 thousand the NCAA wants to be returned to them is about $100 less than what UofL gave Jim Ramsey when he resigned—gravy money at the time. I’m sure the school wishes they had that back now.
There was no accountability, and if anyone dared to question it, it was off with your head. Many UofL fans enabled this behavior by refusing to believe it could be true, even though you weren’t being told the truth along the way.
The NCAA chose to make its history-making example out of UofL--not North Carolina. Rick Pitino says it was because UofL botched it’s appeals and rolled over.
That’s BS. The infractions committee of the NCAA saw the truth: 16-year-old recruits and at least one dad, enticed with prostitutes by the director of basketball operations. One member of the infractions committee made it clear how she viewed it clearly: underage kids and sex, as sordid as it gets.
No excuse for that, but instead we’ve heard plenty of excuses and even this from interim president Dr. Greg Postel on decision day, “I cannot say this strongly enough: We believe the NCAA is simply wrong.”
No, they weren’t wrong. You didn’t get the death penalty. You didn’t get hit with a $15 million fine. We all got hit with something that really hurts. We got the truth.
You can send me your opinion, email: dproffitt@whas11.com