New NC State coach not implicated by NCAA in Louisville escort scandal

Louisville officials met with the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Thursday in Cincinnati, the latest step in an ongoing investigation into a scandal involving the basketball program and an escort.

The NCAA has accused the Cardinals basketball program of four Level 1 violations related to a former staffer, Andre McGee, who allegedly paid an escort $10,000 for shows at the team dorm between 2010 and ’14.

New N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts worked as an assistant at Louisville from 2011 through ’14 but was not named by the NCAA in any of the violations.

“I was interviewed (by the NCAA) and that was the extent of it,” Keatts said.

Keatts, who worked at UNC-Wilmington during the NCAA’s investigation of Louisville, said he had no part in McGee’s plot to lure recruits with the use of escorts and exotic dancers. McGee was Louisville’s director of basketball operations.

“Absolutely not,” Keatts said. “I had no involvement with it and no knowledge of it.”

The NCAA issued its Notice of Allegations to Louisville in October. In the NCAA’s reply to Louisville’s response to the NOA, Keatts is labeled by the NCAA as the “primary” recruiter for eight of the 15 prospects that were identified to be involved with the escorts.

According to the NCAA’s response, Keatts said he did not monitor McGee’s interactions with prospects to ensure that they were compliant with NCAA rules. Keatts stated that “everybody assumed that everybody was doing the right thing.”

McGee was an assistant at Missouri-Kansas City when he resigned from his job in October 2015. Pitino, as Louisville’s head coach, is named in the NOA for a failure to monitor McGee and is subject to a suspension for the NCAA.

Louisville, which self-imposed a one-year ban from the NCAA tournament, is expected to get a ruling from the NCAA in six to eight weeks. Keatts is not in any threat of being punished by the NCAA.

N.C. State athletic director Debbie Yow said N.C. State checked with the NCAA about any potential involvement or violations by Keatts from his time at Louisville.

“We addressed this candidly with Kevin during our interview process,” Yow said. “Kevin is a man of integrity and we look forward to his leadership of our program.”

This story was originally published April 21, 2017 at 11:22 AM with the headline "New NC State coach not implicated by NCAA in Louisville escort scandal."