IU basketball coach Kelvin Sampson will be prohibited from calling or visiting recruits off-campus effective immediately until May 27, 2007, the NCAA Committee of Infractions ruled Thursday. The committee ruled that Sampson and his staff acted in an "atmosphere of noncompliance" surrounding illegal recruiting violations at Oklahoma University that included 577 impermissible phone calls from 2000 to 2004. \nIU said it will not pursue an appeal of the ruling as IU President Adam Herbert supported Sampson's ability to lead the Hoosiers in the future and stated that the University will learn from this decision. \n"We have every confidence in him and in the skills of his outstanding staff of assistant coaches," Herbert said in a statement. "We are ready to move forward in creating a new era of excellence in IU basketball." \nIn addition, several self-imposed penalties were also adopted by the committee, including limits on bonuses Sampson can receive and a public letter of reprimand.\n"I have learned an invaluable lesson, and I hope that this reinforces to other coaches the importance of every aspect of NCAA compliance," Sampson said in a statement. "I am fortunate to have a quality, veteran staff who has built and maintained a high standard in all aspects of coaching, particularly in recruiting. My goal is to build a basketball program of which all Indiana fans can be proud -- one that is successful on the floor, in the classroom and is active in the community." \nThomas Yeager, acting chairman of the committee and commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association, said Sampson and his staff at OU knowingly acted in "a complete disregard" for NCAA recruiting rules on a large scale during the four year period that involved 17 recruits. \nWhile OU faced additional penalties including probation for two years and scholarship losses, the IU athletics department said in a statement the ruling would not impact the University's "ability to award athletic scholarships, participate in post-season play or appear on television." \nOne factor in the committee's decision, Yeager said, was Sampson's failure to monitor his program and the calls made by his staff. In addition he added that Sampson wrongly "prioritized" rules in order to justify the program's actions. \n"In recruiting often times the smallest thing can tip the balance of one school over another," Yaeger said. "In the committee's view there are no insignificant recruiting rules, if that can be the tipping point." \nYeager rejected claims that the restrictions on Sampson would have been less severe had he not transferred to IU. \n"We felt that as I said earlier, that had the job transfer not occurred I am 100 percent confident that the sanctions would still be the same," he said. \nDespite the ruling Sampson will still be allowed to accept phone calls from recruits, text message and correspond via e-mail with recruits, since there are no current NCAA restrictions regarding these methods. \nAthletics Director Rick Greenspan said in a statement that this will only help strengthen IU athletics' strong compliance record and expressed optimism towards Sampson's future with IU.\n"In addition to being an outstanding basketball coach, Coach Sampson is a man of highest character, and from the outset, he has been extremely forthright about this situation," Greenspan said. "While these sanctions do present an immediate challenge, we are excited about the future with Coach Sampson at the helm of the Indiana basketball program"
NCAA bans Sampson from calling or meeting off-campus recruits for 1 year
Infraction committee says new IU coach acted with 'disregard' of rules while at Oklahoma
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