Rick Pitino Calls Out Ex-Coach ... If You Hired Hookers, Come Clean!

University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino is calling out a former assistant coach ... claiming if Andre McGee hired hookers for players, he needs to come clean ASAP.

Pitino issued a new statement on the scandal after 5 former players/recruits told ESPN that they DID attend parties with strippers paid for by McGee -- the team's former graduate assistant coach.

"I don't know if any of this is true or not, there's only one person who knows the truth and he needs to come out and tell the truth to his teammates, to the University of Louisville, to his fans, and to his coaches that have taught him to do the right thing for years and allowed him to be part of something special here," Pitino said.

As we previously reported, a self-described "madam" has penned a book in which she claims McGee not only used her services to provide strippers at parties ... but he also paid for players to have sex with the women.

"If these things are not true, and I keep using the word if, there's only one person who can give these solutions to these problems. It's Andre McGee," Pitino said.

"It's time to give back to his team, his university and coaches and tell the NCAA the truth and tell everyone else who was at one time very proud of him the truth."

"He owes that to his parents, to his university, to his teammates and his coaches. This is not only an NCAA issue here. It's more than that. There's more to it. His teammates that believed in him, his coaches that believed in him, the community that believed in him, put our trust in him to do the right things."