WARNING: The audio file embedded in the story below contains graphic language.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Job one for Chris Mack when he became head coach of the University of Louisville basketball program in 2018 was not winning an NCAA championship.
Nor was it toppling Duke or Virginia at the top of the ACC. Beating Kentucky? Wonderful. But not job one.
This was job one: Don’t do anything to make the Louisville basketball program look foolish, inept or irresponsible. Stay inside every NCAA rule or risk putting the program in a worse place than it already sits.
Mack failed, and he’s fortunate that he remains the head coach of a program that leaks integrity with every squeak of the sneakers. Another day, another scandal.
“Not a fun day,” U of L Athletic Director Vince Tyra said Friday. “Certainly one of my worst days here.”
Add Mack and former assistant coach Dino Gaudio to Rick Pitino, Karen Sypher, Katina Powell, Andre McGee, Brian Bowen, Kenny Johnson, Jordan Fair and The Easter Bunny to the list characters who have made the U of L program look foolish, inept and outside the NCAA rules for a decade.
Confirmation came Friday when the school suspended Mack for the first six games of the 2021-22 season for his unspecified role in the federal extortion case that resulted in Gaudio earning a $10,000 fine and one year of probation.
The profane, angry, confrontational 10-minute or so audio between Gaudio and Mack will take its spot with strippers and hookers in Minardi Hall as well as Pitino’s restaurant booth dalliance with Sypher on the list of Only Louisville moments.
Below is a recording of the meeting between Mack and Gaudio. Some of it was redacted by the university to omit "all identifying information of UofL students, prospective student athletes, and Gaudio’s birthdate":
“We’re a national embarrassment,” one former U of L player told me after the audio was released.
“When is this stuff going to stop?” another former player said.
“The event on Monday just got a little awkward,” texted another.
Ah, the event Monday.
Don’t forget that. U of L President Dr. Neeli Bendadpudi, Tyra and Mack are scheduled to meet with more than 70 former players on Monday to address concerns about the lack of coaching and administrative opportunities for Blacks in the Louisville athletic program.
You can be certain of this: Several players are eager to ask Bendadpudi and Tyra if they are certain that Louisville has the right guy running the program in Mack. After another scandal and modest won/loss results, Mack no longer looks like a guy who was such a slam-dunk hire that Louisville refused to seriously consider another coach.
Questions about Mack’s longevity are reasonable to ask after the latest fiasco.
Considering the program lost its 2013 NCAA title because of the stripper scandal and that it is currently waiting for word whether it will be hit with another probationary penalty for its recruitment of Bowen, the basketball program had to be certain it was not at risk of being charged with using too many paper clips.
On the audio, Gaudio delivered a threat that would have made Vito Corleone proud. He demanded financial compensation for more than a year in exchange for not going to the media with details about NCAA rules Gaudio said that Louisville had broken.
For the folks arguing that Mack comes across as a sympathetic figure on the audio, I say remember this: Mack knew that he was recording the conversation. Gaudio did not.
Give the head coach credit for keeping his emotions and language in check. But, unlike Gaudio, Mack knew what was at stake.
Point B: Gaudio could only threaten Mack because he had leverage. Gaudio knew what was at stake for Mack — and the program.
As I wrote earlier this month, four head or assistant college coaches told me that the rule about making recruiting videos for prospects is a well-known no-no.
Can’t do that. There’s no gray area. Knock it off. Find another way to sign a player.
Using graduate assistants is a more complicated call. Coaches say the rule remains open to interpretation.
Grad assistants can be used in drills but not in 5-on-5 scrimmages. So practice 4-on-4 or 3-on-3.
During a teleconference Friday afternoon, I asked Tyra if he was aware that the basketball program broke those rules and what his reaction was when he discovered what Gaudio alleged.
“I can’t touch on anything relating to a pending NCAA investigation,” Tyra said.
Tyra shouldn’t have to be concerned with it. But now he is. And that’s a situation Louisville basketball has put itself in too many times.
Related Stories:
- Louisville to suspend Chris Mack for 6 games to start season
- Former Louisville assistant coach Dino Gaudio sentenced to 1 year probation, $10,000 fine
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