NCAA: Sampson misled Indiana about calls

February 13, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana University men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson provided “false or misleading information” to the school and NCAA investigators, according to a list of five “major” violations the NCAA is alleging against IU.

The “notice of allegations” sent to IU president Michael McRobbie on Feb. 8, and obtained by The Indianapolis Star on Wednesday through a public records request, alleges that Sampson knowingly violated telephone recruiting restrictions and then lied about it. The restrictions were imposed because of the coach’s NCAA violations while at Oklahoma.

Sampson “failed to deport himself … with the generally recognized high standard of honesty” and “failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance within the men’s basketball program,” according to the allegations. The cover letter was signed by David Price, NCAA vice president for enforcement.

The allegations cited in the NCAA letter to Indiana University are:

1. That (men’s basketball coach Kelvin) Sampson, (assistant coach Jeff) Meyer and (former assistant Rob) Senderoff failed to comply with sanctions imposed on Sampson for impermissible recruiting calls he made while he was a coach at Oklahoma. Those sanctions followed Sampson to IU when he came here in May of 2006. Sampson and Senderoff are alleged to have jointly participated in telephone calls at a time when Sampson was prohibited from being present or taking part when staff members made recruiting calls.

Senderoff and Meyer are alleged to have made about 100 calls that exceeded the sanction limits. Senderoff resigned his position Oct. 30.

2. That Senderoff and Meyer placed “at least 25 telephone calls” to nine potential recruits that exceeded NCAA limits even if no sanctions had been in place.

3. That Sampson “acted contrary to the NCAA principles of ethical conduct when he knowingly violated recruiting restrictions imposed by the NCAA Committee on Infractions,” and that he “failed to deport himself in accordance with the generally recognized high standard of honesty normally associated with the conduct and administration of intercollegiate athletics by providing the institution and the NCAA enforcement staff false or misleading information,” and that he “failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance within the men’s basketball program and failed to monitor the activities regarding compliance of one or more of his assistant coaches.”

4. That Senderoff “acted contrary to the NCAA principles of ethical conduct when he knowingly violated recruiting restrictions imposed by the NCAA Committee on Infractions,” and that he “failed to deport himself in accordance with the generally recognized high standard of honesty normally associated with the conduct and administration of intercollegiate athletics by providing the institution false or misleading information.”

5. That Sampson and Meyer engaged in an impermissible recruiting contact during a two-day sports camp held at Assembly Hall on June 30 and July 1, 2007, and that Meyer provided the potential recruit with an impermissible benefit — at least one T-shirt and drawstring backpack.

IU has until May 8 to provide a written response. The letter says it’s anticipated IU will be required to appear June 14 in Seattle at a hearing before the Division I Committee on Infractions.

Major violations of NCAA rules, as opposed to “secondary” violations, can carry punishments including postseason ineligibility.

IU has a strong record in NCAA compliance, with no major violations since 1960.

“We are extremely disappointed in these new allegations regarding coach Sampson,” IU athletic director Rick Greenspan said in a statement. “To say the least, we view these allegations with grave concern and will cooperate fully with the NCAA as they adjudicate these charges.”

The NCAA declined comment beyond its report.

According to Sampson’s seven-year contract, signed in April 2006, if IU fires him for “just cause,” it would owe him nothing beyond his regular compensation through that month. Among the definitions of “just cause” in Sampson’s contract is “a significant, intentional, repetitive violation of any law, rule (or) regulation” of the NCAA.

Another definition is “failure to maintain an environment in which the coaching staff complies with NCAA … regulations.”

The contract says IU is allowed to use its “sole judgment” to determine if Sampson’s conduct “reflects adversely upon the university and its athletic program.”

IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said the school planned to cooperate fully with the NCAA, and cautioned against judging too quickly.

“The key to this is that these are allegations,” he said. “The document is titled ‘allegations’ and that word appears over and over and over again in the document. Allegations are not the same thing as statements of fact. This has to be adjudicated. We fully support the adjudication process. We want to get to the bottom of this.”

Many of the allegations first surfaced on Oct. 3, when IU sent to the NCAA a report conducted by Ice Miller, an outside law firm hired by the school. That report detailed more than 100 phone calls that were impermissible by Sampson’s recruiting restrictions. Sampson was forced to forfeit a scheduled raise of $500,000, and the school voluntarily forfeited one scholarship for the 2008-09 season.

“The rules that we broke were mistakes, but they weren’t mistakes with us hitting our chests thinking that we don’t have to worry about this,” Sampson said at the time.

The subsequent NCAA investigation found that Sampson lied about his involvement in some of those violations, and also reported new violations.

MacIntyre defended IU’s report to the NCAA, saying Sampson told the school he didn’t knowingly violate those rules.

“We had nothing showing us that that was a false statement,” MacIntyre said. “Now I don’t know what evidence they have, but the NCAA is alleging that Sampson was untruthful. And that’s different from what we came up with.”

“We know who the NCAA talked to,” MacIntyre added. “They talked to people who were on the other end of those phone calls, which we were not able to do for a number of reasons. Partly we were not able to find them, and we didn’t have the investigative resources that (the NCAA) have. And also there was no reason for those people to talk to us. But when the NCAA shows up on your door, that can be different.”

Assistant coach Jeff Meyer, who was involved in several of the allegations, issued a statement Wednesday through an attorney.

“In my twenty-nine years as a college coach, I have tried to maintain a reputation for integrity, fairness and good sportsmanship — values shared by Indiana University and the NCAA,” the statement read. “I regret that I may have made mistakes that are causing my and IU’s conduct to be examined by the NCAA.”

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