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Louisville’s Pitino will not participate in ACC media day

FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2015, file photo, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino responds to a question following an NCAA college basketball team's intrasquad scrimmage in Louisville, Ky. Escort Katina Powell says she has no proof that Louisville coach Rick Pitino knew that a former Cardinals staffer hired her and other dancers to strip and have sex with former recruits and players. But Powell said Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that with “a boatload” of recruits and dancers, “loud music, alcohol, security, cameras” in a campus dormitory and others aware of the shows, “how could he not know?”(AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley) FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2015, file photo, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino responds to a question following an NCAA college basketball team's intrasquad scrimmage in Louisville, Ky. Escort Katina Powell says she has no proof that Louisville coach Rick Pitino knew that a former Cardinals staffer hired her and other dancers to strip and have sex with former recruits and players. But Powell said Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that with “a boatload” of recruits and dancers, “loud music, alcohol, security, cameras” in a campus dormitory and others aware of the shows, “how could he not know?”(AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

By Associated Press October 23, 2015 1 min read

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Louisville has announced that coach Rick Pitino will skip next week’s Atlantic Coast Conference media availability on the advice of counsel because of allegations by an escort in a book that former Cardinals staffer Andre McGee hired her and other dancers for sex parties at the players’ dormitory.

Pitino has denied knowledge of allegations by Katina Powell in her book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen,” which has launched four investigations.

Pitino said in a statement Friday that he didn’t want other ACC schools to be affected by the expected media attention at media day in Charlotte, North Carolina. Pitino said, “I realize that while many would like to question me on the allegations, the NCAA does not permit me to speak on the subject.