Louisville suspends basketball coach Chris Mack six games after internal investigation
University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Chris Mack will be suspended without pay for six games during the 2021-22 season, the school announced Friday.
The suspension resulted from a U of L investigation into Mack’s handling of assistant coach Dino Gaudio’s alleged extortion attempt last spring.
The school concluded that while Mack was a victim of an extortion attempt by Gaudio, the U of L head coach “failed to follow university guidelines, policies, and procedures in handling the matter.”
The suspension is from Nov. 8-27 and spans six non-conference games, including two in the Bahamas. During the suspension, Mack is prohibited from having any contact with the coaching staff or players. Mack will forfeit approximately $221,000 in compensation, the school said.
“As I have said since the beginning of my tenure, we have high expectations for all of our staff members and coaches and we hold people accountable for their actions,” said Vince Tyra, U of L vice president/director of athletics in a school news release. “While we have made great strides over the last four years in changing the culture in our department of athletics, we cannot afford to have any setbacks, no matter how big or small, in our pursuits. I am confident that Coach Mack now understands the impact of his actions. We all have confidence in him moving forward. I am grateful for the partnership and support of President (Neeli) Bendapudi in this matter.”
In May, a U.S. Attorney in Kentucky filed federal extortion charges against Gaudio, accusing the former U of L assistant of demanding payment from the school in exchange for not revealing evidence of the program’s alleged NCAA violations.
At the time, U of L admitted to the impermissible production of recruiting videos for prospective student-athletes and the impermissible use of graduate managers in practices and workouts. The NCAA has yet to rule on whether the Cardinals’ latest violations will lead to punishment.
Gaudio pleaded guilty to the federal extortion charge in June. On Friday, Gaudio was sentenced to one year of probation and a $10,000 fine, Sports Illustrated reported.
“I regret that any of my unintentional actions or failures to follow university guidelines have brought unnecessary attention to our outstanding athletics programs and university,” Mack said in the news release. “I understand that I could have handled matters differently and therefore I accept this suspension. While it will kill me to be away from our basketball family in November, I will do everything possible to set them up for success before and after my time away, and I am fully confident that our coaches, staff and student-athletes will rise to the occasion.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 2:23 PM.