Sampson contract allows IU penalty-free termination

IU would not be forced to pay any penalty to new basketball coach Kelvin Sampson if the University fired him for NCAA sanctions, the Indianapolis Star reported Monday.\nSampson signed his final contract with IU April 20. The document specifies that IU "may take further action, up to and including termination" if the NCAA "imposes more significant penalties or sanctions than the University of Oklahoma's self-imposed sanctions."\nThe deal would allow IU to make a clean break with the new coach if any violations from Sampson's Oklahoma tenure followed him.\nOklahoma has already imposed sanctions on its own program for violations that occurred under Sampson's tenure. At his March 30 introductory press conference at Assembly Hall, Sampson admitted to "mistakes."\nIn an April 21 hearing, the NCAA Infractions Committee heard about 550 impermissible calls to recruits from Oklahoma officials. Any sanctions that result from the committee's decision on those calls could follow Sampson to IU. \nSampson's contract, worth $1.1 million in the first year of the seven-year deal and $1.6 million in the next year, also includes IU's right to fire Sampson without obligation if his assistant coaches commit serious or repeated NCAA rules violations.\nThe Indianapolis Star obtained Sampson's contract through a public records request.