NCAA suspends Louisville head coach Rick Pitino after escort scandal

The National College Athletics Association handed out its decision to suspend Louisville men's basketball head coach Rick Pitino following their investigation into a sex scandal involving the program.

The NCAA body places Pitino on a suspension for five Atlantic Coast Conference games, put the team on four years' probation and vacated program wins in which ineligible players participated. All this comes after former escort Katina Powell claimed in a book that former basketball operations director Andre McGee hired her and other escorts to strip and engage in sexual intercourse with Louisville players and recruits.

"Without dispute, NCAA rules do not allow institutional staff members to arrange for stripteases and sex acts for prospects, enrolled student-athletes and/or those who accompany them to campus," the NCAA said in a statement. "NCAA members agree that schools must provide a safe, healthy and positive environment for their student-athletes, not only academically, but in all facets of their lives."

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The governing body went further in their statement, specifically calling out McGee's creating an environment that "has no place on a college campus."

"The former operations director, the individual entrusted to keep order at Minardi Hall, created an environment that has no place on a college campus and was directly at odds with college athletics and higher education," the statement read.

It is unclear whether the Cardinals' 2013 National Championship title will be one of the wins vacated as an outcome of this punishment.