Indiana University, Sampson respond to NCAA recruiting violations

[David Burkart]

Nearly three months after the school took punitive actions to resolve the scandal surrounding its basketball program, Indiana University released a formal response Monday to the NCAA regarding the recruiting violations.

In the 756 page document, IU outlines the athletic department’s missteps, removes itself from those infringements, and officially requests that all sanctions tied with the former coaching staff be removed.

"Since the University now has a new coaching staff that was not involved in any way with these phone calls (or the other allegations) and since this staff already has to serve the remainder of the self-imposed penalties, the University continues to believe additional penalties are unnecessary," said Indiana University in its official response. "Indiana University remains deeply disappointed by these violations and by the fact that they occurred during a time when the men's basketball program should have had a heightened awareness of the need for absolute and total compliance with the spirit and the letter of NCAA rules.”

The response comes exactly a month before school officials are scheduled to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions. The panel will talk about the school’s self-imposed penalties and the degree to which they can be considered when applying the official punishment to IU later this summer.

Former IU basketball coach Kelvin Sampson also released a response to the NCAA Monday regarding the violations, essentially removing himself from blame and insisting that he “relied” on his “experienced” compliance staff to assure that the program would not repeat the same mistakes he made in the “Oklahoma case.”

“I endorsed and cooperated fully with the monitoring systems set in place by Indiana’s athletics compliance staff. I relied upon the monitoring program that was set in place,” said Sampson in his official response. “I told my staff repeatedly that I never again wanted to go through an experience like I had in the Oklahoma case and that we as a staff needed to completely buy into the monitoring systems implemented by Indiana’s compliance program.”

Sampson continues: “…I cannot adequately describe in words how stunned I was to learn from Mr. Greenspan later that summer that the compliance office’s review of my staff’s phone records had revealed possible violations. First, I could not believe that if in fact the records showed violations, some since my staff’s earliest days at the University, the matters had not been detected and brought to the attention of Mr. Greenspan and myself much earlier so they could have been addressed in a timely fashion. And second, given how strongly and frequently I had communicated to my staff that I expected 100 percent compliance – I could not believe that NCAA rules and Committee on Infractions’ imposed restrictions had apparently been disregarded.”

The dispute between the two conflicting statements concerns one glaring issue that will come up in conversation in June’s hearing: is Indiana University neglectful of NCAA rules and existing sanctions, or is the school a casualty in this mess, an innocent bystander. The answer lies in the semantics, but the odds are certainly in the university’s favor, who took swift action to get rid of its coach, as opposed to Sampson, whose tainted track record points to a pattern of dishonesty.

Check out the full-text of both statements in the immediate replies below. IUplanet will keep you abreast to the Sampson recruiting scandal, but in the meantime, talk about it in our Indiana Basketball Forum—and be sure to take a look at some of the recruits Crean has scored (legally) in our Indiana Recruiting Forum.

[Source] SportingNews.com

[David Burkart]

Check out the 756 page IU response to the NCAA violations at InsideTheHall.

[David Burkart]

[Source: CBSSports.com]

May 8, 2008

VIA OVERNIGHT DELIVERY

NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions
1802 Alonzo Watford Sr. Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46202

Dear Committee Members:

Enclosed is my written Response to the allegations set forth in the NCAA enforcement staff’s Notice of Allegations to Indiana University, Bloomington, dated February 8, 2008. I have been assisted in the preparation of this Response by legal counsel to ensure that I proceed as expected by your policies, procedures and practices.

When I appeared before you in April 2006 to address recruiting telephone contact violations at the University of Oklahoma, I accepted responsibility for my mistakes, I answered your questions truthfully and with great candor, and I pledged to do everything within my power to avoid violations in the future. That experience had a profound effect on me. I was embarrassed and I was wholly determined to not put myself and my family through another experience like that.

When I arrived at Indiana University, I hired an experienced staff and made my expectation of strict compliance with NCAA rules and with the restrictions imposed upon our staff very clear. As set forth in detail in the body of my Response, each member of my staff confirms that my expectations were made clear. I endorsed and cooperated fully with the monitoring systems set in place by Indiana’s athletics compliance staff. I relied upon the monitoring program that was set in place. Again, the statements of my staff as set forth in my Response confirm this. I told my staff repeatedly that I never again wanted to go through an experience like I had in the Oklahoma case and that we as a staff needed to completely buy into the monitoring systems implemented by Indiana’s compliance program.

On the day the recruiting restrictions ended in May 2007, I felt a sense of great relief and peace. I believed that the darkest days of my coaching career were behind me and that we could now move forward with our goal of returning Indiana’s basketball program to a position of prominence. I went to Athletic Director Rick Greenspan’s office and together, we celebrated the occasion with “high fives.” With the recruiting call monitoring system we believed was being operated by the compliance staff, neither of us had any reason to think there might be issues.

Accordingly, I cannot adequately describe in words how stunned I was to learn from Mr. Greenspan later that summer that the compliance office’s review of my staff’s phone records had revealed possible violations. First, I could not believe that if in fact the records showed violations, some since my staff’s earliest days at the University, the matters had not been detected and brought to the attention of Mr. Greenspan and myself much earlier so they could have been addressed in a timely fashion. And second, given how strongly and frequently I had communicated to my staff that I expected 100 percent compliance – I could not believe that NCAA rules and Committee on Infractions’ imposed restrictions had apparently been disregarded.

My life since that day has been a nightmare and my family has suffered profoundly along with me. I have been judged by many in the media and public to be a cheat and a liar and I have lost my job – all long before I will have had an opportunity to present my case to you and without Indiana University conducting a meaningful investigation into the allegations made by the enforcement staff. Even this NCAA process has not followed the prescribed course. A date for the hearing of this case was set before interviews, including one of me, were completed by the enforcement staff and before the enforcement staff issued its Notice of Allegations. These pre-determined results are of grave concern to me. It is my hope that the scheduled June hearing will allay my fears that final judgments have already been made.

As difficult as this process and experience has been for me, I do, given the circumstances, look forward to the opportunity to appear before you and, with the assistance of my counsel, to attempt to ensure that you have all of the information available on the relevant matters so that you can make a fair, unbiased and accurate determination on whether I knowingly participated in telephone conversations with recruits that were contrary to the restrictions imposed upon me and Indiana University by your committee following the Oklahoma infractions case.

Sincerely,

Kelvin Sampson

[PELE4PREZ]

Originally Posted by David Burkart

First, I could not believe that if in fact the records showed violations, some since my staff’s earliest days at the University, the matters had not been detected and brought to the attention of Mr. Greenspan and myself much earlier so they could have been addressed in a timely fashion.

I call BS!!!! Sampson, just take the fall..

[BWW]

One time might be an oversight. But to do the same thing again, where there smoke there bound to be some fire and we know where Sampson is trying tro blow smoke. I just want it to be over so IU can all of us fans can move on.

[BWW]

One time might be an oversight. But to do the same thing again, where there smoke there bound to be some fire and we know where Sampson is trying to blow smoke. I just want it to be over so IU can all of us fans can move on.

[IUBalla512]

Boy, it would be really nice if they didn't add to our self-imposed sanctions. We've already suffered enough. (I'm a little biased though)