John Clay: Louisville’s latest hoops mess would make a good movie, but no one would believe it

LEXINGTON, Ky. — By now, they’re just making this stuff up, right?

Louisville. Again? Extortion. Again? How many times can a basketball program be linked to an extortion attempt? First it was the Rick Pitino/Karen Sypher personal sex scandal. Now we have a repeat performance, thanks to Tuesday’s bombshell that now former Cardinals assistant hoops coach Dino Gaudio allegedly attempted to extort the program after being let go from his position.

In case you missed it, here’s a quick summary, courtesy of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. Louisville head coach Chris Mack fired Gaudio, the former Wake Forest head coach and longtime Mack friend who had served as a U of L assistant the past three seasons. In retaliation, Gaudio said he would do a show-and-tell about alleged NCAA violations the program had committed if the school did not pay him for the 17 months remaining on his contract. Mack recorded the conversation. Gaudio later texted the threat, which traveled across state lines.

What a mess. The problem here is that Louisville basketball has been basically one big public mess since the Pitino/Sypher scandal (mid-2000s), through the stripper scandal for recruits at U of L’s Minardi Hall (2010-14), through the FBI college basketball corruption scandal that netted a pair of Louisville assistants for alleged violations and ultimately cost Pitino his job (2017). Enough is enough, said the ‘Ville. Oops. Enough is apparently never enough.

The jarring Gaudio news is the out-of-nowhere capper on what was a disappointing 2020-21 season under Mack. Hindered by COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the year, the Cards suffered an embarrassing 37-point loss at Wisconsin and an embarrassing 45-point loss at North Carolina. After finishing 13-7, they found themselves without an NCAA Tournament invitation.

Soon after, assistants Luke Murray and Gaudio found themselves without jobs. Murray had been with Mack for six seasons. He’s landed at UConn with Danny Hurley. Gaudio had been friends with Mack since their days as assistants under Skip Prosser at Xavier. Now Gaudio could land in prison for a couple of years.

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Aside from the absurdity of it all, I find at least a couple of curious details about this latest Louisville chapter.

No. 1: The guess here is that this is not the first time a fired assistant coach has threatened to air a program’s dirty laundry. This might be the first time that the program has taken the threat to the feds, however. How did that happen? And what is the motivation behind it? Makes you wonder if there is more to the story.

No. 2: What about that dirty laundry? Gaudio claimed that Louisville had made videos for recruits against NCAA rules. He also alleged that while in need of players during COVID-19 shortages, Mack used graduate assistant coaches to fill out practices in a manner outside NCAA guidelines. Are those allegations true? And if so, how severe are the violations?

They appear to be penny-ante stuff, until you remember that U of L is operating under an NCAA Notice of Allegations served almost exactly one year ago stemming from the FBI probe. After having its 2013 national title vacated and banner removed, the school is fighting the latest charges, arguing it should not be held responsible for the actions of an Adidas representative.

All of this might make for a good movie, except no one would believe it. The story line is too sensational. The plot too fantastical. The repetition of events too unrealistic.

Actually, the whole thing is kind of sad. Louisville basketball owns a wonderful tradition. It has won three national championships — two under the great Denny Crum, one under Pitino. (Despite the banner banishment, I’m counting the 2013 triumph.) It’s the program of Charlie Tyra, Wes Unseld, Butch Beard, Darrell Griffith, Scooter and Rodney McCray, “Never Nervous” Pervis Ellison, Milt Wagner, DeJuan Wheat, Russ Smith, Donovan Mitchell and many other great players.

Now it has become a persistent punchline, with one embarrassing headline after another, more comedy than crime. And barely believable.