Merl Code: Rick Pitino Knew of Brian Bowen Payment

Yet another wrinkle in the University of Louisville's ongoing NCAA infractions case against the men's basketball program has been added to the fold.

Merl Code, an ex-Adidas executive who was involved in the 2017 college basketball corruption scandal, spoke to Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde and Yahoo! Sports' Dan Wetzel on the College Football Enquirer podcast regarding his upcoming book 'Black Market'.

Forde, who received an advance copy of the book, wrote about some of the more relevant details of the book Monday following his and Wetzel's interview. In his book, Code writes that not only did former UofL head coach Rick Pitino know about a payment to five-star prospect Brian Bowen II, but he signed off on it.

“The gist of the prosecution was that, as it related to me, my actions made Brian Bowen ineligible, thus defrauding the University of Louisville," Code wrote. "As a consultant with Adidas, I did not act on my own, nor could I have done so. I simply ran the proposition by my bosses, who did the same after consulting with Rick Pitino, and the answer that came back from up high was, ‘Rick wants our help. Get it done.’”

In the Notice of Allegations against Louisville, the NCAA alleges that Code and fellow Adidas executive Jim Gatto arranged a $100,000 payment in the summer of 2017 to Bowen's father through agent Christian Dawkins in exchange for Bowen II to commit to Louisville.

Bowen II committed to Louisville on June 3, 2017, but would never play for the Cardinals. When the Southern District of New York announced the corruption scandal on Sept. 27, Bowen II was suspended from all team activities. He would later transfer to South Carolina, with Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich eventually getting fired.

Pitino would later deny his involvement in the scandal, saying he had "no knowledge" of the payment to ESPN's Jay Bilas in Oct. of 2017.

Court documents unsealed in Nov. of 2017 stated that Dawkins asked Pitino to call Gatto regarding the payment, and that Pitino agreed to make the call. In a 2018 lawsuit against Pitino, UofL argued that the former head coach "was aware of red flags regarding" Dawkins and Gatto.

The university first received their Notice of Allegations stemming from Bowen's recruitment and the Adidas pay-for-play scheme in May of 2020. It was then amended last October to include additional allegations that arose from the extortion attempt by former assistant Dino Gaudio.

The amended NOA features one Level I violation (severe breach of conduct) and six Level II violations (significant breach of violations) against the university, and the case is being resolved through the IARP. No timeline is set for the case to be resolved, although UofL has stated that they are "preparing for this process to continue through Spring of 2022."

(Photo of Rick Pitino: Thomas Joseph - USA TODAY Sports)