NCAA suspends Louisville’s Rick Pitino after escort investigation

The NCAA suspended Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino for five ACC games Thursday following its sex scandal investigation.

The governing body also placed the basketball program on four years’ probation, vacated wins in which ineligible players participated and handed down a 10-year show-cause order for former basketball operations director Andre McGee.

The NCAA announcement reiterated its original view that Pitino should have known about McGee’s activities with former escort Katina Powell, who alleged in a 2015 book that McGee had hired her and other escorts to strip and have sex with Louisville recruits and players.

The NCAA has not vacated the Cardinals’ 2013 national championship, saying the school must determine which games ineligible players participated in.