Sampson penalized by NCAA; no postseason ban for Indiana

Nov 26, 2008 - 12:15 AM BLOOMINGTON, Indiana (Ticker) -- The NCAA has lowered the boom on former Indiana basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

The Hoosiers, on the other hand, got off relatively easy.

The NCAA concluded its review of Indiana's basketball program Tuesday, giving Sampson a five-year "show cause" penalty and placing the school on three years' probation.

Aside from the probation, however, Indiana will not receive any further sanctioning.

The governing body's infractions committee apparently accepted Indiana's self-imposed penalties that included a reduction of scholarships and severe limitations in future recruiting.

"I'm deeply disappointed in today's findings by the NCAA, but the accusations at hand are things that happened on my watch, and therefore I will take responsibility," Sampson said in a statement. "I am truly sorry that there were so many people who were hurt in this situation. For the sake of everyone involved, including my family, it is time to move on."

It had been widely speculated that Indiana, one of college basketball's most storied programs, would possibly receive a postseason ban as part of Tuesday's ruling.

But despite finding the school guilty of "failure to monitor" its program, the NCAA declined to levy more severe punishments against the Hoosiers, noting that this was the first time since 1960 that Indiana had a major violation.

"We are grateful that the NCAA concurred with our assessment of the previous coaches' actions and intent, and the significance of our thorough investigation and very strong self-imposed penalties," Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan said. "Based on this decision, it appears that anything less than monitoring perfection in this particular case would have triggered a `failure to monitor' finding.

"For coach (Tom) Crean and current and future players, we are pleased that they will be able to pursue their competitive goals unencumbered by further restrictions and limitations. The Indiana University basketball program will emerge from this adversity and return to its rightful place of winning championships with honor."

The same cannot be said for Sampson, who "resigned" from the Indiana job last February to end an ugly nine-day process during which he was cited for five NCAA violations.

Tuesday's penalties came as a result of a highly publicized scandal in which Sampson made over 100 impermissible telephone calls to recruits. The calls were placed while Sampson was already on probation for similar violations from when he was at Oklahoma.

The "show cause" ruling essentially will prevent other schools from hiring Sampson until November 2013. Rob Senderoff, an assistant under Sampson who currently works at Kent State, was handed a three-year "show cause" penalty.

Despite his issues at both schools, Sampson had no problem finding a job as an assistant with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.

Therefore, Sampson would need to spend the next six seasons in the pro ranks before he can return to college with no questions asked.

It was a suitable punishment for Sampson, who was found guilty of lying to investigators to cover up his involvement and knowledge in the impermissible telephone calls.

In the wake of Sampson's sins, the Hoosiers are severely shorthanded for the recently started season, with only one letterman having returned from last season.

Indiana was easily picked to finish in last place in the Big Ten's preseason poll, and it is off to a 2-2 start after consecutive big losses to Notre Dame and St. Joseph's in the Maui Invitational.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, especially after the Hoosiers hired Crean in April.

A hardworking coach with a great reputation, Crean has already begun to work some great things despite the stain of the violation, bring in a class for 2009-10 that is ranked within the top 10 by Rivals.com and loaded with depth - exactly what the barren program needs at this point.