Students weigh in on Sampson’s NCAA violations

As word swept across campus and the country Monday that IU men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson was again sanctioned for impermissible phone calls, pundits and fans alike voiced a diverse array of opinions on the issue. IU students were no different, offering views ranging from support to forgiveness, and warning against repeating such violations again. \n“I hope he learned his lesson for good this time,” senior Ryan Moore said. \nMoore said he thought it would be in Sampson’s best interest to toe the line with regard to following the rules, since this is the second time the embattled coach has received sanctions of this nature.\nIU sanctioned Sampson and his staff for making 45 impermissible phone calls, including 10 three-way calls Sampson participated in. Thirty-five of those calls – made by assistants – were found to be against the rules because they exceeded the amount of allowed phone calls during recruiting, according to NCAA rules. Sampson will not receive a scheduled $500,000 raise this year, IU will voluntarily forfeit one scholarship for the 2008-09 season and assistant coach Rob Senderoff is suspended from recruiting off campus or making recruiting phone calls for one year.\nFreshman Tyler Conaway of Madison, Ind., said he believes Sampson is harshly criticized in part because of the legacy of Bob Knight, the legendary former Hoosier now at Texas Tech. \n“Any of the Bobby Knight players or supporters, they’re never going to be happy with the coach,” Conaway said. “It’s Bobby Knight or bust.”\nSophomore Josh Layne of West Bloomfield, Mich., said he believes IU should have known what they were getting when they hired Sampson, though he said he doesn’t see these new sanctions as a real black eye on the men’s basketball program.\n“Bringing in Sampson was a liability in the first place,” Layne said. He added that he thinks other schools might question IU’s commitment to playing by the rules following these new sanctions. \nSophomore Dustin Pugh of Indianapolis disagreed, saying he thinks the new sanctions could hurt the University’s reputation. \n“Overall, I think it would hurt Indiana University as a whole,” Pugh said. \nConaway said he thinks the program can live through these new sanctions, so long as they do not again repeat themselves. He said he thought Sampson should get another chance because he has the program “going in a good direction.”\n“I think they’ll overcome (the sanctions), just as long as nothing else happens like this,” Conaway said. “If it happens again, I’d say something needs to be done about Sampson, maybe as far as firing, because he’s hurting the program with it.”\nConaway said he was “pretty upset” to hear about the new sanctions, and said he worries about recruiting in the immediate future, pointing to the loss of a scholarship as a potential concern.\n“It might affect some of the recruits for this upcoming recruiting session, like Tyler Zeller and Kevin Jones,” Conaway said. “I hope it doesn’t affect their decision.”\nZeller told the Indiana Daily Student on Monday night that the sanctions will not affect his college choice.\nMoore said he thinks that, if Sampson and the team are successful going forward, people will stop calling for harsher penalties. \n“Winning cures all ails,” Moore said.