INFRACTIONS

The pressure is on IU's new coach to revitalize Hoosier basketball tradition. \n"Good or bad -- we're all known for something," said new coach Kelvin Sampson at Wednesday's press conference. "And that something is going to be your identity."\nBut trying to put IU's best foot forward might start with Sampson taking the Hoosiers a step backward.\nSampson and his staff made too many phone calls per week to recruits, he said, violating an NCAA rule. Making such a mistake shocked the coach into evaluating University of Oklahoma basketball program's commitment to complete compliance with the NCAA.\n"I don't know that, as a staff, we took that rule serious enough," Sampson said. "There really is no excuse."\nAn NCAA investigation brought the violations to the attention of Sampson at OU. (The investigation was discovered by the Associated Press.) \nSampson reflected on the changes wrought on OU in the aftermath of lax attitudes toward compliance. He said that he was ultimately happy he and his staff were found out.\n"It kind of shakes you back to reality a little bit," he said. "I make no bones about it ... I made a mistake.\n"We've corrected it and we'll move forward."\nESPN.com columnist Pat Forde told the Indiana Daily Student Tuesday he believes the NCAA has often penalized coaches who work for programs unrelated to their original violations.\nA spokeswoman for the NCAA said she could not elaborate on any specifics about the validity of an investigation into OU's basketball program. But she said coaches issued a citation must appear before the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions if another University wishes to hire them. \nIt is ultimately unclear what, if anything, will happen to Sampson in his first month at IU. The NCAA is expected to address the Oklahoma investigation at its April 21 meeting.\nPressure on Sampson to improve is also coming thanks to OU's graduation rates, which have been among the worst in basketball. Some of that pressure is coming from University administration.\n"There are some aspects of his program where he needs to prove himself at a higher level," said Rick Greenspan, director of athletics, when asked about Sampson's graduation rates.\nBut Sampson took issue with the way graduation rates were calculated. \nHe said junior college transfers, two-year transfers and student athletes who do not begin on scholarship do not count toward the reported rates. He also said freshman scholarship athletes who transfer to another school or enter the NBA draft early count against the reported rate. (Junior college transfers were common to the Oklahoma men's basketball team, \nSampson said.) \nHe said coaches and media everywhere needed to do a better job of informing people how these rates are calculated. \n"It's not your composite or total graduation rate," Sampson said.\nBut he said he will be aiming high at IU.\n"Regardless of our graduation rate, we should not be satisfied with anything that isn't 100," Sampson said.\nHerbert did not equivocate about NCAA violations or graduation. He indicated Sampson would be expected to live up to an IU tradition he felt embodied above-average graduation rates and perfect compliance. \nIU is a place that "plays by the rules and graduates its students," he said.