College basketball’s 30 biggest cheaters that tainted the game

1. Rick Pitino

We’ve finally reached the top of the cheating mountain, and there is no other choice for the No. 1 spot than Rick Pitino. He is a legendary coach with plenty of success on his resume, but there are also plenty of black marks on it as well.

The cheating legacy of Pitino goes all the way back to his days as an assistant at the University of Hawaii, where he reportedly helped players get used cars for season tickets and get free coupons for McDonald’s. Pitino himself wasn’t hit with any penalties, and he stayed on the straight and narrow for a while after that.

After winning a championship at Kentucky and an ill-fated trip to the NBA, Pitino returned to the college ranks in 2001, when he replaced the retiring Denny Crum at Louisville. Pitino continued to win with the Cardinals, taking the school to three Final Fours and winning the national championship in 2013.

Everything came crashing down on Pitino, however, for a pair of serious scandals. The first involved one of Pitino’s staffers, Andre McGee, hiring escorts for recruits and players over several years. Even though Pitino claimed no knowledge of what was going on, the NCAA ended up stripping Louisville of its national championship and its Final Four appearance in 2012.

Pitino was already on thin ice before he got caught up in the current college hoops recruiting scandals, reportedly seeing the school pay to get top recruits to come to the program. Louisville cut ties with Pitino after that, and he has been out of the college basketball world since.