The NCAA ruled Thursday that Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino failed to properly monitor his program during a high-profile escort scandal, slapping him with a five-game suspension and starting a process that could force the school to forfeit its 2013 national title.

The Committee on Infractions panel said the school must vacate records from December 2010 to June 2014 that involved ineligible players. The school must submit a written report within the next 45 days to the NCAA that details the games impacted by athletes who were involved in the sex-for-recruits scandal.

According to the school, the Cardinals potentially would have to forfeit 108 regular-season and 15 NCAA tournament wins, including the 2013 title game.

Calling the punishments unfair and unjust, school officials said they intend to appeal.

“None of us do not feel extreme remorse, regret in everything that went on inside that dormitory,” Pitino said. “We’ve said that many, many times. But this is over the top. It’s to the point where it’s not even conceivable what I just read.”

Chuck Smrt, the former NCAA enforcement director who Louisville retained as a consultant, said school officials were taken aback by the report. “The severity of this penalty we think exceeds the severity of this case,” he said.

While the NCAA report confirmed that the former director of basketball operations, Andre McGee, arranged for dancing or sex acts in an on-campus dormitory for three players, 15 recruits – at least seven of whom were underage – a friend of one prospect and two coaches not associated with the school, the committee came down hard on Pitino for putting McGee in a position of authority.

“Although the panel did not conclude that the head men’s basketball coach was aware of the activities, he did not exercise sufficient oversight of the former director of men’s basketball operations … Therefore, he did not meet his responsibility to ensure violations were not occurring,” the report stated.

The report noted that Pitino, 64, said his assistant coaches were responsible for monitoring McGee, but the assistants told investigators they had no knowledge of that responsibility. “The former director of men’s basketball operations was the head coach’s watchdog in the dormitory and an extension of the head coach,” the report stated.

Pitino met with reporters, defending his program and saying “personally I’ve lost a lot of faith in the NCAA.”

“We are embarrassed about what went on. We’re extremely contrite about what went on,” he said. “But one person does not determine the worth of what we’re about as a program.”

In addition to suspending Pitino for the first five ACC games of next season, the school was placed on four years probation, fined $5,000 and ordered to return money related to NCAA tournament appearances from 2012-15. Depending on the school’s findings, the program might have to forfeit its Big East titles in 2012 and ’13, its 2012 Final Four appearance and most importantly, the 2013 national title, an 82-76 win over Michigan.

McGee also got a 10-year show-cause penalty Tuesday.

The scandal broke open in October 2015 when Katina Powell, a self-described “escort queen,” wrote a book detailing her relationship with the Cardinals’ basketball program and McGee, alleging she was paid $10,000 in a four-year period for providing women – including her daughters – to dance and have sex with Louisville players and recruits at an on-campus dormitory.

Last October the NCAA charged the school with four Level I infractions and cited Pitino with failure to monitor his program. Louisville contested the charges, saying Pitino had no knowledge of McGee’s actions or what took place in the dormitory.

The school had the opportunity to formally respond to the NCAA’s notice of allegations and plead its case in a court-like hearing in front of the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions.

The committee held a nearly 11-hour hearing with Louisville officials in April, a meeting Pitino later described as “one of the most difficult days.”

Pitino, entering his 17th season as Louisville coach, had contended he was unaware of McGee’s activities, an assertion supported by the committee.

“No one who was interviewed during the investigation provided any information showing that the head coach was aware of the stripteases and prostitution. In fact, the prospects and enrolled student-athletes made it a point not to talk about the incidents,” the report stated. “Even those that said they were unaware if the activities were NCAA rules violations did not want the coaches or their parents to find out. … The prospects and enrolled student-athletes all knew if the head coach became aware of the incidents, he would have – as one put it – ‘flipped out.'”

Pitino’s suspension is less severe than punishments previously meted out to Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Larry Brown of Southern Methodist for violations within their programs. Both were suspended for nine games – 30 percent of the season. The Cardinals hope an appeals committee will lessen it even more.

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