I haven't read all of the NCAA filings/decisions in this case word-for-word, so I don't know whether this was ever discussed as a basis for the outcome (I suspect it wasn't). Even if it wasn't, you have to wonder if the fact that McGee played for Pitino for several years didn't play a role in the minds of the NCAA when deciding the punishment. It is one thing if a coach hired some random person and he then screwed up. But in terms of the culture Pitino promotes/creates, he hired a former player as director of basketball ops, and that player played for him for several years, and that was only a few years before he was hired. Thus, you can see the NCAA thinking that if this guy thought this was OK, what does that mean for what type of program Louisville has been running under Pitino.
