Sanctions cast cloud over season

No matter how far the IU men’s basketball team travels in the NCAA Tournament this year, many Hoosier fans still will not be happy with the program come April. \nAnd it’s not because Bob Knight is no longer coach. \nJust two days after Hoosier Hysteria officially kicked off the 2007-08 basketball season, coach Kelvin Sampson and IU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan announced on Oct. 14 that Sampson and his staff had participated in impermissible phone calls – the same infraction Sampson and his staff committed when he coached at Oklahoma. \nThe University assessed sanctions against the men’s basketball staff for the infractions.\nAccording to a report detailing the infractions, Sampson participated in at least 10 and as many as 18 three-way recruiting phone calls. Three-way phone calls are allowable under NCAA bylaws, but were banned by the sanctions imposed on Sampson for his role in Oklahoma’s phone call infractions. \n“There certainly is no intent to think we are above the law,” Sampson said during a teleconference with reporters on Oct. 14. “The rules that we broke were mistakes – not mistakes we’re hitting our chest thinking we don’t have to worry about this. It was a mistake. We take full responsibility for \nwhat happened.”\nSampson said that before the investigation, he believed he and his staff “followed all the rules” set by the NCAA sanctions.\nAlthough Sampson and assistant coach Rob Senderoff both claim that only one coach talked with a prospective student athlete during the three-way calls –\nSampson claims that only once he even knew he was on a three-way call – one recruit and the mother of a different recruit claim they heard both coaches talk at the same time. \n“Two of the three individuals that Indiana University successfully contacted from the list of known phone numbers used in three-way recruiting calls, reported that Senderoff was involved in the respective conversations, as well as Sampson,” according to the report. “The University was careful to clarify with both individuals ... that both coaches participated in the conversation at the same time, as opposed to Senderoff speaking only during the first portion of the call and then remaining silent when Sampson was on the phone. The two individuals were specific in their recollections that Senderoff was involved during the whole call, and it should be noted that these calls were relatively recent.”\nSampson reiterated his story during a press conference with reporters on Nov. 1.\n“I know what I know, and that’s all I need to say on that,” Sampson said. “What I said ... was the right answer.”\nDespite Sampson’s claims of good intentions, many IU fans and some former players have been critical of the coach. One former player, All-American Kent Benson, has called for the coach’s firing.\nSampson said he is confident the team can move past the violations.\n“We think this is something we can be 100 percent – not 99 percent or 99.5 – but we can be 100 percent compliant with this as we move forward,” he said on Oct. 14.\nIn addition to the three-way phone calls, Sampson’s staff placed as many as 111 excessive phone calls, some of which were in violation of the NCAA sanctions, some in violation in violation of NCAA Bylaws and some both. \nMany of the impermissible calls resulted from assistant coaches’ inability to correctly document recruiting phone calls. Though each assistant coach had signed monthly documents saying they made no recruiting phone calls from home, each did. The lack of record keeping has been characterized by the University as “sloppy.”\nAccording to the report, conducted by Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller, the University’s legal counsel on the matter, Senderoff was responsible for 101 of the 111 calls in question. \nSenderoff resigned from the team on Oct. 29, the day before the Ice Miller report was released to the media. Although the University and Senderoff’s severance agreement maintain the resignation was voluntary, multiple media reports claim Senderoff was forced out. \nNeither Senderoff nor any University representative is allowed to talk in detail about the terms of the resignation, per terms of the severance agreement. \nSenderoff received nearly $66,000 in severance pay. \nUnder IU’s self-assessed sanctions, the men’s basketball team will lose one scholarship for the 2008-09 year and Sampson will not receive a scheduled $500,000 raise this year.\nAssistant coach Jeff Meyer will not receive bonuses this year or next, and Senderoff wouldn’t have either if he’d stayed. \nSenderoff was banned from recruiting off campus or placing recruiting calls for one year from the date of the submission of the report, and those sanctions will carry over to Dan Dakich, who replaced him. \nThe NCAA Committee on Infractions received the report and is reviewing its contents. The infractions committee could impose harsher penalties if it deems necessary. After Oklahoma assessed penalties on Sampson for impermissible phone calls, the infractions committee assessed stricter sanctions. The Big Ten also has the authority to impose stricter sanctions. \nThere is no time frame for a ruling from the NCAA, and the Big Ten will review the NCAA’s actions before it makes its ruling.