You can read the 60-page report by clicking here.

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:

• A second year of restrictions on recruiting calls tighter than is permitted by the NCAA.
• Reduced Kelvin Sampson’s off-campus recruiting opportunities and took away a basketball scholarship for 2008-09. The off-campus recruiting penalties were extended to Tom Crean after he took the job in April, but IU opted to allow Crean 10 days to recruit off-campus.
• The basketball staff also had one less coach available for recruiting during the 2007-08 recruiting year.
• Sampson also voluntarily agreed to forego a $500,000 compensation increase for the 2007-2008 season.

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.

“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.

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.

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:

• Official release from IU
• NCAA cover letter submitted to IU
• 14-page report detailing NCAA allegations

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.

ITH: The self-imposed sanctions announced recently have dominated local headlines and have created chatter regarding Kelvin Sampson’s future at Indiana. Is Sampson’s job on the line and do you feel the NCAA could enforce additional penalties on the program?

Katz: Indiana has made it clear that it isn’t going to fire Sampson. I don’t know what the NCAA is going to do. So, we’ll have to wait and see. If the NCAA adds anymore sanctions then that might change the administration’s stance.

ITH: You wrote on your ESPN.com blog that Rob Senderoff “took one for the team” by stepping down from his assistant coach position. When these sanctions were originally announced, it seemed that Senderoff would keep his job with the understanding that his salary wouldn’t increase and he’d be unable to recruit for a year. What changed between that time and Senderoff’s resignation?

Katz: I’m not sure. I was surprised that Senderoff “voluntarily” resigned two weeks after the sanctions were announced. But it does take time to work out a severance agreement so I wouldn’t be shocked to later learn this was in the works for a few weeks, even as early as when the sanctions were announced.

ITH: You’re plugged in to a national coaching scene like few in sports journalism. Without naming names, how do coaches regard Sampson? Is there an overriding opinion of him?

Katz: I will repeat what I wrote: everyone like Sampson as a person, respects his coaching ability but a number of coaches, including his friends, are disappointed in this latest violation. The first one caused some concern but he was given a pass by most. But the second violation, the one dealing with the same issue, has caused a number of them to question Sampson.

ITH: Large media outlets — especially ESPN — are often criticized for breaking news that ends up incorrect or for claiming to break news that was actually broken by smaller entities. Do you ever hear that criticism and what steps do you take to A) verify your scoops (you have a lot of scoops) and B) make sure that proper credit is given across platforms?

Katz: I’m sorry but I totally disagree with your first point. I can’t speak to reports of news that proved to be incorrect. My policy is simple: I want to be right first, not first and then maybe not right. I usually have at least two to three sources on any major story unless it is the sole person who the story involves. I have been beaten by some stories because I take more of a conservative approach. But I’ve also been right with a longer and more concise story on a few major issues after another outlet put the baseline story out before me but then had incorrect information.

ITH: You’ve been covering college basketball since 1990. You’ve been to Final Fours and have visited many of the most storied arena’s in the country. Where is your favorite place to cover a game and what was, in your opinion, the best game you’ve ever covered?

Katz: Hmmm, I love going to Kansas, Florida, Oregon, Gonzaga, North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky and Maryland to name a few. The Palestra is also one of my favorite spots. I would say the Stanford win over Arizona on Nick Robinson’s buzzer beater may be the most exciting game I’ve ever covered.

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.

When these sanctions were revealed in a bizarre fashion (a Sunday morning) back on October 14, why was it announced that Senderoff would be able to keep his position? I believe the terms were that he’d forfeit a salary increase for the upcoming season and would be prohibited from making recruiting phone calls and from recruiting off campus.

And now, just two weeks later, he’s forced to resign.

What changed in the last two weeks that we don’t know about? Greenspan called Senderoff’s resignation voluntary, but who really believes that? Not me. He was indeed forced out. Andy Katz called it “taking one for the team”, Jeff Goodman called him the “fall guy” and I agree. As E said earlier, he’s your fall guy, folks. If the university had no intention of keeping Senderoff on staff, he should have been relieved of his duties two weeks ago. Why string it along two more weeks?

So, what are your thoughts on how the Senderoff resignation was handled? Was IU right to force him to resign? Should they have done this two weeks ago? Should Senderoff still have a job at IU? Questions, questions, questions. And I want to hear your thoughts.

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.

The documents include an October 3 independent investigative report that was submitted to the NCAA Committee on Infractions focusing on 111 telephone recruiting calls last season that were found to exceed limits on the number of times a prospective athlete could be contacted under NCAA sanctions (109 of the calls) or NCAA rules (32 of the calls, 30 of which also were contrary to the sanctions).

A second document is the self-report to the NCAA enforcement staff regarding the phone calls that violated NCAA rules. That report concluded that out of these 32 phone calls it is likely only 13 actual conversations occurred. Also among the documents are two other reports detailing the circumstances of impermissible personal contacts with recruits or their families not related to telephone calls.All the violations are being reported to the NCAA as secondary infractions. Greenspan said he believes the independent investigation, conducted by attorneys from Ice Miller’s Collegiate Sports Practice in Indianapolis, was very thorough and brought all compliance problems to light.

“Through extensive and lengthy discussions with our legal counsel, it was concluded that these violations are of a secondary nature because they represented isolated instances. They provided little, if any, recruiting advantage and did not involve any extra benefits,” Greenspan said.

“However, Indiana University expects and demands full and complete compliance with all NCAA rules and will continue to do so. I will continue to send a very strong message to our coaches, student-athletes and supporters that our standard is and will always be complete compliance.”

As penalties, Greenspan has imposed a second year of restrictions on recruiting calls tighter than is permitted by the NCAA, reduced Sampson’s off-campus recruiting opportunities and taken away a basketball scholarship for 2008-09. The basketball staff will also have one less coach available for recruiting during the 2007-08 recruiting year. Sampson also voluntarily agreed to forego a $500,000 compensation increase this year.

Greenspan said the limitations on recruiting were extended for another season to ensure that the full effect of last season’s NCAA sanctions on recruiting is realized.

The Ice Miller report found that of several thousand recruiting calls made from May 2006 to May 2007 by the assistant coaches, a total of 111 exceeded sanction or NCAA limits. Of those, 101 were made by assistant coach Rob Senderoff, in addition to 9 other three-way calls in which he connected a prospective athlete with head Coach Kelvin Sampson.

Although permissible under NCAA rules, three-way recruiting calls involving Sampson were in violation of the stricter, NCAA-imposed sanctions which were in effect on the IU staff last year from May, 2006 to May, 2007.

Greenspan said the Ice Miller report did not conclude that Sampson acted deliberately to violate the sanctions he was operating under last season.

In its conclusion, the report states that investigators “considered the fact that with so few impermissible calls involving Sampson out of the thousands of recruiting calls made from May 2006 through May 2007, this could not have been a purposeful plan to circumvent the sanction.”

The investigation found that most of the impermissible calls occurred because Senderoff failed to log calls made from his home telephone, thus making it impossible for compliance staff to accurately track the number of times each prospective athlete was contacted by telephone. Most of Senderoff’s calls were made from his cell or office phone and were properly logged.

Because of the inaccurate records, some prospective athletes and their families were called by assistant coaches more often than permitted under the sanctions or NCAA rules.

Two violations unrelated to telephone conversations were also reported to the NCAA:

On May 12, Senderoff arranged a 15 to 30-minute meeting at Assembly Hall between former IU President Adam W. Herbert and the mother of a prospective student athlete. The mother had come to Bloomington to watch her son participate in an AAU basketball tournament at Assembly Hall. NCAA rules prohibit schools from making recruiting contacts with tournament participants or their families until after the tournament is over. To determine whether a violation had occurred, the university had to confer with the Big Ten conference, which in turn had to request assistance from the NCAA to clarify the complex rules in this area.

On June 30, assistant coach Jeff Meyer arranged for Sampson to meet with a prospect who was in Bloomington to participate in a Sampson-sponsored tournament. Because NCAA rules prohibited Sampson from making recruiting contacts with tournament participants, the prospect’s coach was told he would have to withdraw from subsequent participation if he met with Sampson. The meeting took place, but the prospect returned to the tournament the next day unbeknownst to Meyer or Sampson.

Both of these infractions were reported as secondary violations because they provided no recruiting advantage and did not include any inducement or extra benefit.

Sorry, folks: Rob Senderoff is your fall guy.

No one familiar with Kelvin Sampson — hell, no one familiar with college coaches in general — could possibly believe that Senderoff acted on his own in initializing three-way calls with recruits. Do you really think any Type A personality, one that exists in the dictatorship-esque heirarchy of college basketball coaching, would really allow an assistant to actively flout the rules? Do you think there’s any way Senderoff decided to take matters into his own hands? Or that he misinterpreted some edict laid down by Sampson at the beginning of recruiting season? Please.

Again, Senderoff shouldn’t be fired, and neither should Sampson. This stuff is not that big of a deal. But somewhere, whether Rick Greenspan or an angry booster or both, someone wanted blood. And if you don’t think Senderoff took a fall for indiscretions as much Sampson’s as his own, I’ve got some oceanfront Indiana property I’d like to show you.

This would explain Senderoff’s absence from Friday’s open practice as well as Kelvin Sampson’s unwillingness to discuss Senderoff at Sunday’s Big Ten media day.

Indiana assistant coach Rob Senderoff will resign Monday in the wake of the recent phone scandal involving the Hoosiers, according to two sources close to the program.

Senderoff has become the “fall guy” for Indiana head coach Kelvin Sampson, who came to Bloomington and was immediately hit with NCAA sanctions back from his days at Oklahoma.

Before coaching at IU, Senderoff worked at Towson, Yale, Fordham, Miami (OH) and Kent State. He was generally recognized as one of the top upcoming names in coaching and was the main recruiter for Coach Sampson. He is believed to be a primary reason the Hoosiers landed New York area recruit Devin Ebanks.

No official word yet from Indiana on the resignation, but speculation has already begun that Dan Dakich will move from the Director of Basketball Operations post to Senderoff’s vacated spot.

(Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News ripped IU’s handling of the situation here.)