More Sampson Phone Call Drama

I like Kelvin Sampson...I think he's doing a great job at IU...but these phone call screw ups are becoming pretty ridiculous. The article is posted below. I just wanted to say that I don't think the NCAA is going to take further action because IU took care of it in house...losing a 500,000 bonus is quite a steep punishment and so is losing a scholarship. Secondly, one could look at the rules being broke as not being that big of a deal...kind of like jaywalking or something. It's not like they are giving money to recruits. But on the other hand I never want to read a headline that involves the IU mens basketball coaching staff breaking rules. Its unacceptable. That should not happen IU. I think Sampson has learned his lesson and these latest screw ups were just do to "sloppiness"...but come on...let's get it together. This kind of takes the momentum away from a positive midnight madness night. Maybe I'm just in a surly mood...but this just really pissed me off when I read it on espn.com.

Here's the article by Andy Katz via espn.com

Hoosiers lose scholarship, Sampson loses raise over calls
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

Indiana made a strong statement Sunday that it has enough tolerance for secondary NCAA violations under men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson to ensure his job status, but it will make sure Sampson and any members of his staff pay for violations with their bank accounts and their ability to fully do their jobs.

Indiana announced Sampson broke his one-year penalty from May 24, 2006, to May 25, 2007, which was imposed for recruiting violations, by participating in a three-way recruiting call on 10 occasions. As a result:

• Sampson lost a $500,000 bonus for 2007-08.
• The team lost a scholarship for 2008-09, reducing the number of scholarships to 12.
• Assistant Rob Senderoff, who set up the three-way calls, will be banned for a year from recruiting off campus and making phone calls. He also will not receive a bonus and cannot receive a salary increase next year.

Indiana also announced Sunday that it sent a report to the NCAA enforcement staff about 35 phone calls made by assistant coaches that were in violation of the NCAA limits on how much a prospect could be contacted.

ESPN.com learned Sunday that the NCAA will review that report and determine if any additional penalties should be imposed or if the self-imposed sanctions are sufficient. If these violations did occur during the time that Sampson was under his one-year ban, which was imposed by the NCAA Committee on Infractions, the committee might review the situation and take further action against him.

It still is too early to tell whether or not this will have any effect on Sampson or the program. Although Sampson was not allowed to recruit off campus or make phone calls for a year, the Hoosiers were able to sign one of the top recruiting classes in the country for this fall, including a possible top-five 2008 NBA draft pick in guard Eric Gordon. Gordon and returning power forward D.J. White are expected to lead Sampson's second Hoosiers team perhaps as far as a Big Ten title. Indiana also is expected to be a preseason top-10 team.

The scholarship hit also might not be a big deal, because the Hoosiers just pulled a commitment to 2008 player Bud Mackey after he was arrested for possessing cocaine in Georgetown, Ky. The Hoosiers already had secured three other commitments, according to Scouts Inc., from prospects Devin Ebanks, Tom Pritchard and Matt Roth, who range from No. 5 to No. 37 in their respective position rankings. The loss of a scholarship for 2008-09 might mean the Hoosiers simply won't look for someone to fill Mackey's slot.

The lost bonus is Sampson's third in the past three years -- the first was in his last season at Oklahoma and the second was in his first season at Indiana -- and all have resulted from how he conducted recruiting phone calls.

The first time he was hit was at Oklahoma for impermissible phone calls. The second time was when he took on the Indiana job in 2006 and signed a seven-year deal. Under the contract, he was not going to get a bonus after his first year that paid him $1.1 million. Sampson's final six years were going to pay him $1.6 million a year.

Now, comes the news Sunday that Sampson won't receive a contractual $500,000 bonus for the 2007-08 season. Under NCAA rules, a coach can participate in a three-way call with a recruit. But under Sampson's sanctions that were adopted by Indiana but occurred at Oklahoma, he wasn't allowed to be a part of a three-way telephone conversation.

Sampson said he was aware of only one of the 10 where it was a three-way call. That call he said was to clear up with a recruit about a visit he was canceling. He said he was unaware that the other nine were three-way calls. Sampson said recruits were told to call him or he was able to text them (which was allowed until a text messaging ban was put in place for all coaches Aug. 1). But Sampson said there were occasions when recruits weren't able to get him on the phone, called Senderoff and then Senderoff would patch the recruit through and stay on the line so the call wouldn't be dropped.

Indiana officials said Sunday that these 10 calls were spread out about once a month.

Sampson said he found out that they were three-way calls after the university did an independent audit in July of the past year of recruiting calls. Indiana officials said the coaching staff was fully cooperative and also allowed them to look at home phone records.

"This was 10 calls out of 1,000 but we're trying to get to 100 percent compliance and if we had 10 out of 1,000 then that's 10 too many," Sampson said.

Indiana's report stated that all but two of the three-way calls were initiated by Senderoff.

"I'm disappointed," Sampson said of the violations. "We had been dealing with the sanctions from May 25 to May 25. And once it was over, we were under the impression that it was over. We were confident that we had followed the rules."

Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan said Sampson said he would take full responsibility for the basketball program. Greenspan said the amount of money Sampson won't receive makes a "strong statement" about how much he was willing to cooperate.

Senderoff may have taken the biggest career hit Sunday. The university self-imposed a one-year ban on his ability to recruit off campus or by phone, preventing him from calling recruits. Senderoff won't receive a bonus this season or a salary increase next year.

Senderoff handled a lot of the recruiting responsibilities with assistants Ray McCallum and Jeff Meyer.

Taking Senderoff off the road may mean a reassignment within the staff. Sampson said that Senderoff is on the floor coaching and that the situation will evolve. But Indiana officials said Sunday that the Hoosiers will be a coach down on the road and that Sampson can't substitute the director of basketball operations for Senderoff on the road recruiting or in making phone calls.

If Senderoff were terminated during the year ban then the position would still carry the penalty regardless of who was in the role.

This may end up hurting Senderoff's ability to land a head coaching gig in the near future, too. He had been mentioned as a prospective candidate for a few Midwestern mid-major openings last spring.

"Rob made his mistakes and they were mistakes of omission and mistakes of commission," Sampson said. "There wasn't an intention to circumvent the rules. Rob is on the floor every day and participating with the staff as he normally does but won't travel [for recruiting] or use the phone.

Sampson called the mistakes by the staff "sloppiness."

Sampson's status in recruiting remains unchanged, pending any further action by the NCAA. He was allowed to make calls after May 24 and his recruiting traveling ban ended then, as well. He spent July of 2005 and '06 off the road during self-imposed travel bans by Oklahoma and Indiana for the phone call violations. Still, in both cases, he committed top classes for both schools, although the Sooners' class eventually scattered once Sampson left for IU.

The news comes just two days after Indiana hosted more than a dozen recruits at its Hoosier madness event Friday in Bloomington. The Indianapolis Star reported that a number of prominent recruits from the class of 2009 such as Lance Stephenson, Dexter Strickland, Stephen Van Treese, Jordan Prosser and Nolan Dennis were in attendance.

Indiana finished 21-11 last season, 10-6 in the Big Ten and lost to UCLA in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Sampson's first season with the Hoosiers.

Greenspan offered his disappointment throughout a conference call Sunday over the violations. So, too, did Sampson. But Greenspan never wavered in his support.

"The rules we broke were mistakes and we take full responsibility for what happened," Sampson said.