Louisville suspends player amid FBI probe, reportedly 5-star recruit Bowen
Interim Louisville president Gregory Postel announced that a Cardinals player central to an FBI investigation into corruption charges had been suspended indefinitely, according to The Courier-Journal's Jeff Greer.
Postel also announced that Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich were put on administrative leave.
While Postel didn't refer to the suspended player by name, multiple college basketball writers report the player to be 5-star freshman forward Brian Bowen.
The U.S. Department of Justice's official complaint states that a group consisting of Adidas vice president James Gatto, former Clemson player Merl Code, sports agent Christian Dawkins, and disgraced investment banker Munish Sood funnelled "approximately $100,000 from (Adidas) to the family of Player-10, an All-American high school basketball player; to assist one or more coaches at University-6 in securing Player-10's commitment to play at University-6, a school sponsored by (Adidas); and to further ensure that Player-10 ultimately retained the services of Dawkins and Sood and signed with Company-1 upon entering the NBA."
Related: NCAA coaches, Adidas exec among 10 charged in corruption scheme
The report describes "University-6" as "a public research university located in Kentucky," and with "approximately 22,640 students and over 7,000 faculty and staff members, it is one of the state's largest universities." Those facts, plus the Cardinals' agreement with Adidas, and the acknowledgement from the school itself that it was under FBI investigation, quickly outed Louisville as "University-6."
Per the report, "Player-10" made a "surprise commitment" to "University-6" around June 3, 2017, "or almost immediately after the illicit bribe" was agreed upon. Bowen, 2017's No. 14 recruit on ESPN's 100 board, officially committed to Louisville on June 3, 2017.
"We got lucky on this one," Pitino told Terry Meiners of News Radio 840 three days after Bowen committed to Louisville. "I had an AAU director call me and ask me if I'd be interested in a player (Bowen). I saw him against another great player from Indiana. I said 'Yeah, I'd be really interested.'
"They had to come in unofficially, pay for their hotel, pay for their meals. We spent zero dollars recruiting a five-star athlete who I loved when I say him play. In my 40 years of coaching this is the luckiest I've been."