In the immediate aftermath of former escort Katina Powell’s book “Breaking Cardinal Rules” being made public, UMKC assistant coach Andre McGee was placed on paid administrative leave. McGee, who played for Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, was both a graduate assistant and director of basketball operations during a three-year span (2011-14) in which Powell alleged that she was paid (by McGee) to provide escorts for parties with recruits and members of the Louisville basketball team.
Friday UMKC announced that McGee has resigned from his assistant coaching position, effective immediately. McGee worked for head coach Kareem Richardson, who is in his third season as head coach at UMKC after spending the 2012-13 season as an assistant on Pitino’s staff at Louisville.
“The university deserves a full-time assistant coach, and I am not able to provide that to the basketball team while the false allegations against me are being investigated,” McGee wrote in a letter to UMKC Director of Athletics Carla Wilson.
The one-sentence statement is the most that McGee has said since allegations became public in early October, even with his former college coach and boss imploring him earlier this week to tell the truth about the entire ordeal. Both Louisville and the NCAA are continuing to investigate the case, with multiple former players and recruits being named by Powell in her book.
While the case has yet to be resolved, McGee’s next course of action will be something to watch for. Will he sit down with the NCAA (or Louisville), if asked, to tell his side of the story? Or does he continue to keep quiet, making the situation that much more difficult for Louisville and the NCAA to get the information it needs to move forward with its investigation? There’s an awful lot riding on the answers to those two questions.