At 4PM EST this afternoon, the NCAA officially released its findings of an investigation involving Kelvin Sampson, Rob Senderoff and the Indiana University men’s basketball program.
You can read the 60-page report by clicking here.
Take a deep breath. And then take a sigh of relief.
After a lengthy investigation, the NCAA Infractions Committee has decided that Indiana’s self-imposed sanctions are sufficient and that no further penalties to the men’s basketball program are warranted.
IU will have a probationary period of three years in which it will need to maintain a clean slate in order to avoid further sanctions.
The story was first reported by Terry Hutchens of The Indianapolis Star and Doug Wilson of the H-T/Hoosier Scoop.
The self-imposed sanctions, announced in October 2007 by Rick Greenspan and Grace Calhoun, included the following:
Sampson and former assistant coach Rob Senderoff were not as fortunate. Sampson received a five-year show cause order and Senderoff a three-year show cause order.
Under a show cause penalty, a school must show cause for hiring a coach to avoid being sanctioned. Since Senderoff is currently an assistant at Kent State, it’s unclear what his future will be as a member of their coaching staff after this ruling.
Instead of sneaking out of the back door without comment like our old friend Kelvin, former IU assistant Rob Senderoff actually showed his face out in Seattle during the NCAA hearings and yesterday, he spoke with David Carducci of The Record-Courier:
“I was glad to have the opportunity, but it was still an incredibly difficult process. First of all, having my integrity in question, and then having to read about it every day in the newspaper and online, and having what I thought was misinformation reported about me, it was all very difficult. With that being said, I put myself in the situation that allowed all of this to happen, and I can’t blame others for that. The way this has all been so public has just made it harder. But that’s part of working at Indiana.”
“My reputation up until (Indiana) had been spotless. And my reputation from this point on will be spotless. But I have to work doubly hard to cleanse my reputation now. I built a reputation through 12 years of doing things the right way. That has been destroyed. It is gone. And now I’m starting at ground zero again, and I have to prove myself even beyond what I’ve done before because now there is a perception that I do things wrong. And I’m not going to do anything wrong from this point forward. Going through this process has taught me how important it is to dot every “i’ and cross every “t.’ I am going to have to live with all of this forever. Even if the ruling (by the NCAA) is in my favor, I still did some things wrong, and I’m going to have to live with that.”
It’s nice to see Senderoff, unlike Sampson, is taking some accountability for what went down. Listen, the guy made some bad decisions, but the fact that he’s standing up and taking blame should be good for something, right? I’ve met Rob a couple of times and he’s one of the nicer guys in coaching. Here’s to hoping he gets things going in the right direction despite the carnage he left behind in Bloomington. As for Kelvin, well, that’s a different story.
You remember Rob Senderoff, right? The former IU assistant thrown under the bus in an attempt to save face for Kelvin Sampson. It appears he’s about to be hired as the top assistant to Geno Ford’s staff at Kent State:
According to several sources, Senderoff is expected to sign a new contract within the next week to become Ford’s No. 1 assistant. It’s an excellent move.
Senderoff was considered one of college basketball’s best recruiters before being forced to resign at Indiana as the intended fall guy in the Hoosiers “telephone scandal.” He returns to Kent fully loaded with recruiting ties to talent-rich areas like New York, Indiana and Pennsylvania. He also returns to a place where he has close friends and colleagues who have no questions about his character.
I say good for Senderoff. He’s a solid young coach that got caught up in the wrong situation at IU and it’s nice to see him get another chance (if this report is indeed accurate). I ran into him last summer at an AAU event and he was nothing short of classy.
The following is from a media release issued this morning by Indiana University. The named players were not included in the original report, but we’ve added them for your convenience. Here is a detailed summary of the allegations:
1. That Kelvin Sampson, Jeff Meyer and 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. Those recruits are Yancey Gates, Evan Turner, Demetri McCamey, Markieff Morris, Dejuan Blair, Jonathan “Bud” Mackey, Philip Jurick, Scott Martin and Robbie Hummel.
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 ministration 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 (Derek Elston) with an impermissible benefit at least one T-shirt and drawstring backpack.
Also, here are links to the three releases issued by Indiana in PDF format:
Andy Katz is a senior college basketball writer for ESPN.com. His “Daily Word” is a staple of ESPN.com’s college hoops coverage. He is also an on-air reporter for the World Wide Leader’s coverage of college basketball and the NBA draft. We recently caught up with him and got his take on the upcoming IU season, how Kelvin Sampson is perceived by his peers, Rob Senderoff’s resignation and a few other topics. We thank Mr. Katz for his time.
Inside the Hall: With D.J White returning and the arrival of Eric Gordon, IU is back in the preseason top 10 for the first time since the 1994-1995 season. Is this team capable of a run to San Antonio and which player, White or Gordon, is the key to getting them there?
Andy Katz: Both. The Hoosiers need balance to make it to San Antonio. They haven’t had those two working parts in concert in years. If the Hoosiers get an all-American season out of White and what should be a one-and-done stellar season out of Gordon then they will have the two most important pieces in place to make a run.
ITH: The preseason media poll penciled in Michigan State as the favorite to win the conference. Are the Spartans the team to beat in the Big Ten and if so, why?
Katz: The reason was experience. The Spartans return more overall experience and have the most important player to his team in the league in Drew Neitzel. Gordon may end up having just as good a statistical season but he’s still a freshman versus a senior. It’s hard to argue that point.
As expected, today’s teleconference with AD Rick Greenspan, Associate AD Grace Calhoun and Ice Miller council Robin Green Harris answered few questions. I’ve got no problem with the Athletic Department refusing to answer questions because the case is in the hands of the NCAA.
They obviously don’t want to slip up and give the NCAA more ammo than they’ve already got. But why schedule time to answer questions if you have no intention of doing so? Haven’t we heard enough of their legal speak fluff?
The more I’ve thought about the way Rob Senderoff’s dismissal from the program was handled, the more I’ve come to the conclusion that those who are in decision making positions, namely Rick Greenspan, botched the whole thing.
(Editor’s Note: The complete report in PDF format can be accessed here.)
From IU Media Relations:
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Indiana University Department of Athletics today announced its release of all documents relating to its discovery and subsequent investigation, and self-disclosure of recruiting violations and issues with the sanctions involving the men’s basketball coaching staff.
“When reviewed as a group, these reports provide a very clear picture of what took place in this matter. Accordingly, we have chosen to impose very significant self-imposed sanctions that we are operating under currently and have recommended to the NCAA,“ said Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan.
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