The evidence has yet to emerge. The allegation, however, is alarming.

If two University of Louisville assistant coaches were making improper payments to the families of recruits in the shadow of an NCAA investigation of stripper parties in a campus dormitory — as a federal prosecutor claimed on Thursday — that’s a bombshell that could crater the University of Louisville basketball program.

“We’re looking at the death penalty,” former University of Louisville basketball player Jerry Eaves told his radio audience Friday afternoon. “No question about it. ... We’re in serious trouble.”

It has long been common, if not condoned, to have shoe company executives cutting deals to steer recruits to company-affiliated schools. It has been standard practice for agents and financial advisers to pay college players in the hope of gaining a percentage of their professional contracts.

Background:Adidas executive's lawyer says Nike-sponsored Oregon tried to pay Brian Bowen

But it’s another thing altogether when coaches conscious of their school’s probationary status personally commit major infractions “within five years of the starting date of the penalty assessed in the first case.” And the consequences are potentially catastrophic.

When U.S. Attorney Edward Diskant said former Louisville assistants Kenny Johnson and Jordan Fair had made payments of $1,300 and $900 to relatives of recruits while questioning U of L compliance officer John Carns on Thursday, Diskant effectively classified U of L as a “repeat offender” for NCAA purposes. (Fair had previously been incriminated by FBI surveillance video, but not as categorically.)

Though Diskant’s aim was to paint U of L as the victim of conspiracy and fraud in order to advance the prosecution of James Gatto, Merl Code and Christian Dawkins, he may have done more damage to the institution than he did to the defendants. He has exposed Louisville, at least theoretically, to the most severe sanctions in the NCAA manual.

Louisville Recruiting Investigation

Diskant did not disclose the source of his information — documents, recordings, testimony, etc. — but its impact was unambiguous and, locally at least, unwelcome.

A former U of L trustee described the allegation as “unreal” and expressed hope that the firing of Johnson and Fair might mitigate any potential penalties.

“We are staring the death penalty in the eye,” a Louisville attorney texted Thursday afternoon. “.... We were in the (NCAA) sights when they enhanced the penalties."

(He offered to bet me a coffee on the death penalty being imposed. I am holding out for a Diet Coke.)

It’s worth noting that the NCAA’s repeat-violator legislation — commonly referred to as the “death penalty’’ — has not been imposed on a Division I program since SMU football was shut down for the 1987 season. Recognizing the collateral damage that affects not only the sanctioned school but the local community, the Committee on Infractions has since withheld its ultimate weapon from revenue-producing programs.

The only cases where the death penalty has been invoked during the last 30 years involved Division II Morehouse College’s soccer program and the Division III tennis team at MacMurray College.

“In the nine years I was on the committee, we only brushed up against it once, and that was in the Baylor basketball case,” Alabama law professor Gene Marsh told CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd last year. “We actually decided to impose some form of the death penalty and backed off. ... That was the closest.”

Given the number of schools that have already been implicated through the FBI’s investigation and the testimony of Brian Bowen Sr., plus the potential for additional allegations arising during the trial, NCAA leadership will have to consider how best to handle infractions cases that could number in double digits.

Related:Brian Bowen Sr. testifies about bribes from Louisville, Arizona, others

To investigate and adjudicate all relevant cases could take years. To concentrate on repeat and egregious offenders could be seen as selective enforcement. To declare a general amnesty and find a way forward would require more imagination than the NCAA has shown and more faith than it has earned.

This leaves Louisville in an unenviable place, awaiting judgment, wondering when its nightmare will end.

Tim Sullivan: 502-582-4650, tsullivan@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @TimSullivan714. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/tims.