KELVIN SAMPSON AND VIOLATIONS? NO... SAY IT AIN'T SO

by Sterling Gould, More Credible

Mr. Sampson sure knows how to cause a raucous, pretty much anywhere he goes. The latest drama for the Indiana Hoops Coach? Allegations by the NCAA that he was breaking restrictions already put on him that he knew already. God, that confused me just putting that down:

Indiana head men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson has been cited by the NCAA for acting "contrary to the NCAA principles of ethical conduct" for knowingly violating recruiting restrictions that had been placed upon him, according to a report released by the NCAA Wednesday.

The report details multiple instances of Sampson violating the sanctions imposed upon him in May 2006 by the NCAA after it was discovered that he had made more than 500 impermissible phone calls while he was head coach at Oklahoma. Sampson's penalties followed him to Bloomington, and he was banned from making recruiting phone calls, participating in three-way phone calls or conducting off-campus recruiting visits from May 25, 2006-May 24, 2007.

Indiana self-reported violations in October 2007 detailing impermissible phone calls made by assistant coaches Rob Senderoff and Jeff Meyer, and Sampson said at the time he unknowingly had participated in some three-way calls in which Senderoff called recruits then patched Sampson through without Sampson knowing Senderoff was still on the line. Senderoff was later fired.

To make a long story short, Sampson was also accused of sending false information to the NCAA. You know, to like... cover up shady business tactics and stuff. Like high school recruit Derek Elston, who got a free back pack and t-shirt while at a basketball camp hosted by the Hoosiers! The backpack was to be useful for carrying around scholastic materials. But in reality, all it will be used for is carrying around used gym clothes, notebooks littered with co-ed phone numbers, and a Gameboy Advance.

My cell phone bill is pretty stout (that's because I'm hopelessly on the line for 1-800-Fat-Girl), but I'm pretty sure it pales to comparison to Indiana's bill:

# Sampson knowingly participated in three-way phone calls with Senderoff and prospects Yancey Gates, William Buford, DeJuan Blair, Demetri McCamey, Ayodele Coker and Devin Ebanks. He also participated in speakerphone calls with Senderoff and prospect Marcus Morris.

# Sampson was present during one or more recruiting calls placed by Senderoff to prospect Kenny Frease in which Senderoff made phone calls to the student-athlete, then handed the phone to Sampson. Sampson also spoke with the mother of prospect Bud Mackey via Senderoff's cell phone while Senderoff was with Mackey's mother.

# Records showed Senderoff also used his home phone for impermissible recruiting calls on a number of occasions despite Senderoff telling investigators that he had not used his home phone for recruiting calls. In fact, Senderoff placed at least 30 phone calls that were violations from his home phone.

# Sampson and Meyer impermissibly recruited Elston during a two-day sports camp June 30 and July 1, 2007. During that event, Meyer told Elston's high school coach, Travis Daugherty, that Elston would be receiving a scholarship offer from Indiana in the near future. Elston, however, had not completed his activities in the camp, which made contact with him impermissible, and Elston returned to camp activities the following day. It was during this contact that Elston received the t-shirt and backpack in violation of NCAA rules.

Damn, dude is really gettin' after those recruits. If only he put this much effort into not violating NCAA regulations.