Indiana agrees with NCAA's allegations of wrongdoing

[MU Chi_IL]

 By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

Indiana University essentially agreed with all five violations that the NCAA cited against the men's basketball program in a Feb. 8 major notice of allegations sent to the school, ESPN.com has learned from multiple sources.

The school is expected to formally release its response to the public as early as Tuesday. Representatives of Indiana are due to meet in Seattle with the committee on infractions on June 14. A final result on any possible penalties likely won't be known until later in the summer.

The notice was sent in February, four months after the university self-reported a cluster of secondary phone call violations. The major difference between the two reports was the allegation against then-head coach Kelvin Sampson that he provided false information to investigators.

According to sources, Indiana agreed with all of the first allegation that stated Sampson and his staff of Jeff Meyer and Rob Senderoff failed to comply with the penalties assessed against the staff in a previous infractions report. The allegation covered March 29, 2006 to July 31, 2007. The restrictions involved telephone call restrictions placed on the school as punishment for Sampson's previous penalty while he was at Oklahoma.

Indiana agreed with the second allegation that assistants Meyer and Senderoff placed at least 25 impermissible telephone calls to prospective athletes or parents or legal guardians from May 7, 2006 to July 17, 2007. A source said the university agreed that this was a second violation.

The university also agreed with the third allegation, that during a period of May 25, 2006 to May 24, 2007, Sampson acted "contrary to the NCAA principles of ethical conduct when he knowingly violated recruiting restrictions imposed by the NCAA's committee on infractions as penalty for Sampson's prior involvement in [the Oklahoma case]." This allegation essentially stated that Sampson knowingly provided false information to Indiana and the NCAA's enforcement staff.

The fourth allegation stated that during the period of May 25, 2006 to May 24, 2007, Senderoff failed to report that he used his home phone for recruiting purposes.

The fifth and final allegation stated that on June 30, 2007, Sampson and Meyer engaged in impermissible recruiting contact with a prospective student-athlete and that on July 1, 2007, Meyer provided the recruit with extra benefits (a T-shirt and backpack).

Sampson, who took a $750,000 buyout in February after less than two years at IU, was hired recently to work on Scott Skiles' Milwaukee Bucks staff. Assistant Dan Dakich coached the team the rest of the season, and former Marquette coach Tom Crean was hired in April to succeed Sampson. Senderoff was just hired at Kent State as an assistant. Another former assistant, Ray McCallum, got the head coaching job at Detroit.

Meyer and Dakich are the only former members of the staff who aren't currently employed.

The Hoosiers have only three returning scholarship players for next season after freshman Eric Gordon declared for the draft; D.J. White and Lance Stemler exhausted their eligibility; DeAndre Thomas, Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis were dismissed; and Eli Holman was allowed to transfer. Crean is adding newcomers, however, with the count already up to six. Georgetown transfer Jeremiah Rivers recently visited IU's campus and might end up in Bloomington.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3392460

[Tugg Speedman]

Indiana agrees with NCAA's allegations of wrongdoing

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3392460

Indiana University essentially agreed with all five violations that the NCAA cited against the men's basketball program in a Feb. 8 major notice of allegations sent to the school, ESPN.com learned from multiple sources on Monday.

The school is expected to formally release its response to the public as early as Tuesday. Representatives of Indiana are due to meet in Seattle with the committee on infractions on June 14. A final result on any possible penalties likely won't be known until later in the summer.

The notice was sent in February, four months after the university self-reported a cluster of secondary phone call violations. The major difference between the two reports was the allegation against then-head coach Kelvin Sampson that he provided false information to investigators.

Sampson, meanwhile, issued a response on Monday to the NCAA's findings. In a statement that ran more than 70 type-written pages, Sampson argued that he did not "knowingly" participate in illegal phone calls and therefore should not be held responsible for the violations.

According to sources, Indiana agreed with all of the first allegation that stated Sampson and his staff of Jeff Meyer and Rob Senderoff failed to comply with the penalties assessed against the staff in a previous infractions report. The allegation covered March 29, 2006 to July 31, 2007. The restrictions involved telephone call restrictions placed on the school as punishment for Sampson's previous penalty while he was at Oklahoma.

Indiana agreed with the second allegation that assistants Meyer and Senderoff placed at least 25 impermissible telephone calls to prospective athletes or parents or legal guardians from May 7, 2006 to July 17, 2007. A source said the university agreed that this was a second violation.

The university also agreed with the third allegation, that during a period of May 25, 2006 to May 24, 2007, Sampson acted "contrary to the NCAA principles of ethical conduct when he knowingly violated recruiting restrictions imposed by the NCAA's committee on infractions as penalty for Sampson's prior involvement in [the Oklahoma case]." This allegation essentially stated that Sampson knowingly provided false information to Indiana and the NCAA's enforcement staff.

The fourth allegation stated that during the period of May 25, 2006 to May 24, 2007, Senderoff failed to report that he used his home phone for recruiting purposes.

The fifth and final allegation stated that on June 30, 2007, Sampson and Meyer engaged in impermissible recruiting contact with a prospective student-athlete and that on July 1, 2007, Meyer provided the recruit with extra benefits (a T-shirt and backpack).

In the statement, Sampson painted a different picture of the environment he tried to foster.

"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," the statement reads.

Saying that he was "stunned" to learn of possible violations, Sampson continues: "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. [athletic director Rick] 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."

Sampson, who took a $750,000 buyout in February after less than two years at IU, was hired recently to work on Scott Skiles' Milwaukee Bucks staff. Assistant Dan Dakich coached the team the rest of the season, and former Marquette coach Tom Crean was hired in April to succeed Sampson. Senderoff was just hired at Kent State as an assistant. Another former assistant, Ray McCallum, got the head coaching job at Detroit.

Meyer and Dakich are the only former members of the staff who aren't currently employed.

The Hoosiers have only three returning scholarship players for next season after freshman Eric Gordon declared for the draft; D.J. White and Lance Stemler exhausted their eligibility; DeAndre Thomas, Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis were dismissed; and Eli Holman was allowed to transfer. Crean is adding newcomers, however, with the count already up to six. Georgetown transfer Jeremiah Rivers recently visited IU's campus and might end up in Bloomington.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

[BrewCity83]

Why twice?

Because It's Indiana, Indiana?

[dsfire]

Looks like the article got updated after the first post last night to include the Sampson quotes.

[BrewCity83]

Didn't catch that...thanks.

Didn't catch that...thanks.