Can All NCAA Athletes Have Sex Ala Louisville Coach Rick Pitino?

(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

If an athlete in any NCAA-regulated program has sex in a McDonald's restaurant bathroom and is caught in the act, would he/she be subject to an NCAA penalty?

Well, there are laws about public indecency, indecent exposure, etc. But maybe not.

Najeh Davenport, a University of Miami player, was charged with a felony for breaking into a dorm room and pooping in a laundry basket. (The charges were later reduced in a plea agreement.)

Rick Pitino, a University of Louisville basketball team coach, admitted to having consensual sex with a woman on a restaurant table and then providing the woman with money to get an abortion.

Incredibly, most sports reporters have centered their stories on whether Pitino's outback activities will affect Louisville basketball recruiting. Few sports reporters have asked whether Pitino's admitted activities should have any impact on the NCAA requirements for "student athletes."

If the middle-aged, married, millionaire Pitino was so driven to have sex on a restaurant table but, has, according to University of Louisville President Dr. James Ramsey
"been a role model for countless young people and a positive influence on this community", then what is the standard for NCAA athletes?

You remember those NCAA athletes, right? The kids who generate the big bucks for the athletic progams so universities like Louisville can make coaches like Pitino millionaires?

If a middle-aged man like Pitino can cheat on his wife, have such little control he has to have sex on a restaurant table, get a woman pregnant and then pay for an abortion, what behavior in 18-year-old NCAA-approved athletes won't be tolerated?

The NCAA will stomp on your head if you, as coach, text messages a recruit out of season. There is apparently no out of season per the NCAA for extramarital diddly in restaurants or paying for abortions for those accidental children.

If the NCAA allows Pitino to continue as coach, his behavior is the new guideline for EVERY NCAA athlete, even those 18-year-old kids some people think should be held to a higher standard than their middle-aged coaches.

You go NCAA boys.

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