A couple of solid takes from local journalists regarding the NCAA's letter of inquiry to U of L regarding the FBI-Shoe Company Scandal ....

Take 1

https://www.wdrb.com/sports/crawford-in-...t=headline

A snippet of the article:

So how will Louisville proceed with this process, and will it differ from how it proceeded in the last one, that resulted in a self-imposed postseason ban and the eventual vacating of two seasons' worth of wins, multiple championships, a Final Four and NCAA title?

My suggestion to the school – speak softly, but carry a big team of lawyers. A really big one.

While the NCAA may be looking to make an example of the school as a way of firing back against the biggest and most widespread scandal the organization has faced since the 1950s, U of L had better be ready to vigorously defend itself against a landscape in which it – and in many ways, it alone – has taken dramatic action in the face of suspected wrongdoing. Heads rolled.

It is Louisville that fired its Hall of Fame head coach. No other head coach has been fired in connection with these activities.

It is Louisville that removed its athletic director, and replaced its president, and its board of trustees. It is Louisville that has enacted groundbreaking measures to guard against the kinds of violations that landed it in trouble in the first place. It is Louisville that let the assistants involved go – only to see one happily employed by another NCAA institution without penalty, and another back working with players at the grassroots level without any NCAA sanction.

The only entity that Louisville has not severed ties with is adidas – but the NCAA itself continues to do business with adidas and every other shoe company.
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I understand the national narrative (though national narratives are notoriously lazy and simplistic): If the NCAA can't punish Louisville for this, then what can it punish?

But if I'm Louisville, that's a question I would be prepared to see settled in court, rather than in the NCAA’s infractions process, if I'm not satisfied that the NCAA is being reasonable in its punishment.

A federal court already has determined that Louisville and other schools were victims of criminal fraud in this process. To be sanctioned for being a victim – and a victim that was found by the court not to have benefited from the entire scheme – would seem a topic that the courts might be willing to take up.


Take 2

https://www.wdrb.com/sports/bozich-ncaa-...t=headline

A snippet from this take:

My timeline showed a 19-minute gap from the moment that The Athletic delivered its story that the University of Louisville had received a verbal notice of inquiry from the NCAA until an assistant coach who recruits against U of L texted me a screenshot of that story with this message:

"What does this mean?"

Wouldn’t everybody love to know?
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Five minutes later I received a text from another high-major assistant coach wondering what was going on at Louisville.

Stay tuned. We're just getting started -- again.
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Now the volume will be cranked up on a familiar debate:

How much more should Louisville be punished?

The school has undergone a significant regime change. The most popular athletic director in school history was pushed into retirement.

A Hall of Fame coach was locked out of his office, tumbling all the way to the European League. All three of his assistant coaches as well as his equipment manager, personal assistant and strength coach are no longer at the school.

Louisville took a substantial hit, a considerably more significant hit than other programs that have been included in this scandal. Other schools have slow-played their responses without changing coaches, coaches who ignored the noise and had success in the NCAA Tournament that ended this week.

For a school that has already taken down a national championship banner, there is little appetite for more probation and the financial and emotional pain that would come with it.

That's one side. This is the other, from the law-and-order crowd:

If you’re not going to squash a repeat offender with evidence gathered by the federal government, who are you going to punish?



Anyway .... figured some may find this interesting ...

IIRC, the president and BoT shakeup was in process before the Adidas story broke. At the time, the blame was being placed on Kentucky.

I do think Louisville did the right thing. They bit the bullet, did what had to be done now rather than dragging the process out for a few years.