Former Louisville coach Andre McGee, left, with former guard Peyton Siva in 2011. (Getty)
A former basketball staffer at the University of Louisville is accused in an escort’s new book of paying for sex and stripping parties for players and recruits.
Andre McGee, who also played basketball at Louisville for head coach Rick Pitino, is named in the book, Breaking the Cardinal Rules by Katina Powell.
The 42-year-old escort alleges in the book, Breaking Cardinal Rules, that she, and her daughters, attended more than 20 sex parties inside the basketball players’ dorm at Louisville between 2010 to 2014. She says the parties were arranged by the 28-year-old McGee, who now coaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Five former players and recruits told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that they attended the parties.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Powell Says McGee Paid Her $10,000 to Set Up the Parties Over a 4-Year Period
Escort Katina Powell. (Indianapolis Business Journal Publishing)
Katina Powell told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that during the second stripping party she had at the players’ dorm, Andre McGee asked her if some of the dancers would have sex for money.
“He asked me, ‘Is there any girls that want to make extra money,’ pretty much a side deal with the players. … So I asked the girls and their eyes lit up like, ‘Well, yeah,'” Powell told ESPN. “… ‘Side deals’ were sex, and if they [the dancers] wanted to make extra money, that’s what the ‘side deal’ was, sex.”
“The recruit would pick out what girl he wanted. Andre would come to me, tell me what girl the recruit wanted, and I would tell the girl and she would say her price,” Powell said.
She says McGee paid her about $10,000 during the four-year period.
Powell’s daughters, Lindsay Powell, now 24, and Rod Ni Powell, 22, were among the women who allege they were paid to have sex with players, including star guard Russ Smith, who now is in the NBA.
“I believe that McGee came to my mom and said something to her about it, and my mom came to me and I was like ‘OK,’ and we went in another room and we had sex,” Lindsay Powell told ESPN.
2. McGee Has Hired an Attorney & Was Put on Administrative Leave at His New School
Andre McGee after Louisville won the Big East Championship. (Getty)
McGee has not commented about the allegations. He is being represented by attorney Scott Cox.
He became an assistant coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2014, and his new school has now put him on administrative leave.
UMKC head coach Kareem Richardson said in a statement on October 5:
The allegations reported yesterday are a matter of serious concern. Like many, I am eager to learn the results of the investigations underway by UMKC, Louisville and the NCAA but we all need to allow the process to run its course without interference. In the meantime, our coaches and student-athletes are focused on academics and basketball as the season gets underway. We have promoted Director of Basketball Operations Conner Hampton to Assistant Coach on a temporary basis while Andre is on administrative leave. To keep our focus on school and basketball, we will not have further comment at this time.
His former head coach and boss, Rick Pitino, has called on McGee to comment on the allegations.
Pitino: “There’s only one person who can speak on this matter, and that’s Andre McGee. He owes it to his teammates, coaches and …
Pitino: “The university to tell the truth. The truth has got to come out, and it can’t just be to the NCAA.”
3. He & Powell Could Face a Criminal Investigation
McGee in 2007. (Getty)
McGee could face criminal charges, along with any possible sanctions by the NCAA or UMKC.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that university police, along with metro police and the Commonwealth of Kentucky attorney’s office, are investigating whether there was any criminal wrongdoing involving McGee or Powell. Prostitution is a misdemeanor charge that has a one-year statute of limitations, but promoting prostitution is a felony that has no such limit, according to ESPN.
McGee’s attoreny, Scott Cox, told the newspaper, “I am hopeful that any criminal investigation will clear coach McGee because he has not violated any criminal laws.”
Powell told the Indianapolis Business Journal, “How can I be the only one to get in trouble and go to jail, and I wasn’t the only one to play a part in this….I was asked to do this. Why would I be the only one looking at jail time for something I didn’t ask for? That’s not fair.”
4. He Became a Coach at Louisville After 4 Years as a Player for the Cardinals
(Getty)
McGee, of Moreno Valley, California, played at Louisville from 2005 to 2009. He was the Cardinals’ starting point guard during the 2008-2009 season, playing for head coach Rick Pitino.
After his playing career ended, McGee briefly played professionally in Europe. He then joined Pitino’s coaching staff in 2010 as a graduate assistant. In 2012, he was hired by Pitino as the team’s director of basketball operations.
He left the school for UMKC after the 2013-2014 season.
While at Louisville, McGee dealt with a rare genetic condition, sickle cell trait, which required him to use IVs in the locker room before games and sometimes receive oxygen on the sideline.
McGee graduated with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and a master’s degree in exercise physiology.
5. His Father & 2 Brothers Also Played College Basketball
(Getty)
McGee comes from a college basketball family. His father, Anthony McGee, played at Long Beach State. His older brothers also played in college, Tony McGee at Eastern Washington University and Antoine McGee at the University of Colorado.
Andre McGee was a top-50 recruit after he averaged 22.3 points and 4.2 assists at Canyon Springs High School. He said in his profile on the Louisville website, “Louisville is the best college sports town in the country, hands down, and Coach Pitino is the best coach in college. I would have been dumb to go anywhere else.”
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Andre McGee: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know