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Notre Dame Basketball: FBI Investigation Hits Louisville Hard, Irish Affected?

By Chase Eyrich

LOUISVILLE, KY - MARCH 04: Rick Pitino the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals gives instructions to his team during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at KFC YUM! Center on March 4, 2015 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY - MARCH 04: Rick Pitino the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals gives instructions to his team during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at KFC YUM! Center on March 4, 2015 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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In light of the University of Louisville being linked to a federal investigation, Rick Pitino and Tom Jurich given administrative leave.

New allegations in an FBI investigation hit the University of Louisville hard. The University quickly responded. Head Coach Rick Pitino has been set on unpaid leave and Athletic Director Tom Jurich has been set on paid administrative leave. One unnamed player is being withheld from NCAA activities.

These actions are in light of the Department of Justice charging 10 people in part of a corruption and fraud scheme.

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Shachar Peled of CNN reported that assistant coaches – Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State, Chuck Person of Auburn, Emanuel Richardson of Arizona and Tony Bland of USC – were among 10 people arrested by the FBI.

Everyone charged has supposedly contributed to a “pay-to-play” scheme. Louisville was in the middle of it.

Myron Medcalf reported on ESPN.com that Louisville revealed they are the

“University-6” named by the FBI. That part of the document claims that a Louisville employee agreed with Adidas official James Gatto and others to pay $100,000 to the family of a recruit who eventually committed “Player-10”.

What does this mean for the Notre Dame basketball team?

The three-year investigation has charges of fraud and corruption against 10 men associated with college basketball. No one in connection to Notre Dame has been included.

There are some similarities between Notre Dame and Louisville. None of which actually can claim Notre Dame had any part of this whole ordeal.

Notre Dame and Louisville both played in the Big East until the Irish left to join the ACC on July 1, 2013. Louisville did the same thing a year later, July 1, 2014.

Obviously, that means nothing. What everyone will be keeping an eye on, is how widespread was Adidas wrongdoings? How many schools did Adidas provide illegal benefits too?

Notre Dame ended a 17-year relationship with Adidas at the end of the 2013-2014 season. The Irish left to join with Under Armour on a 10-year deal.

It was a huge deal for Notre Dame as they and UA both saw a significant financial increase. So it all made sense.

Around the same time, Tennessee also left Adidas as the Vols joined Nike.

Must Read: Notre Dame Basketball: Irish Land in Blue Ribbon Preseason Top 25

They weren’t the only ones. 17 schools terminated or suspended their contract with Adidas in 2013. For many, the reason to leave was due to the closure of PT Kizone, a factory in Indonesia, which had a contract with Adidas. The factory closed, and Adidas refused to pay their legally mandated severance owed to the workers.

So, again, Notre Dame and others had reasoning to leave Adidas. What is alarming is we don’t know how much power Adidas had with other schools. Nor do we know if we will see more and more schools popping up in connection with this “pay-to-play” allegations.