One of the former University of Louisville men’s basketball assistants fired by the university in the wake of an ongoing FBI inquiry has returned to coaching at the AAU level.
Jordan Fair, who was one of two assistants placed on administrative leave and then released after the FBI announced its investigation, is listed as the head coach of a 17-and-under team participating in the Under Armour Challenge Tournament in Cartersville, Ga., this week.
The club, named Team Breakdown, issued a statement on Twitter in response to an inquiry about Fair’s status Wednesday night.
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“Coach Jordan Fair like all of Team Breakdown coaches has been cleared by the NCAA’s own process to coach. Excited to have him back on the sideline,” the statement said.
No one affiliated with the Louisville program, including Fair, has been charged in the months since the university was identified as being one of the parties that was targeted in the investigation in a federal indictment.
In the indictment, a Louisville assistant identified only as “Coach 1” was part of a conversation allegedly about funneling money to a high school recruit with two named defendants in the case, sports agent Christian Dawkins and AAU coach Jonathan Brad Augustine. Charges against Augustine have since been dismissed.
Coach 1 has never been identified, but former Louisville head coach Rick Pitino has indicated in past public comments that Fair was in the room in question.
During a radio appearance on a Louisville radio program hosted by Terry Meiners on WHAS, Pitino said that Fair “did the wrong thing by stepping in that room, and he has to speak up on that matter and not hide behind lawyers.”
Few new details in the case have been announced since the FBI’s investigation was announced last September, but the fallout led Louisville to remove Pitino and its athletics director, Tom Jurich, along with Fair and another assistant.
Wednesday, Pitino filed a motion for partial summary judgment in his wrongful termination suit against the university arguing the school had “no facts” to support his dismissal.
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