IU men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson might not have been completely accurate in his recollection of his role in three-way phone calls that resulted in NCAA violations, according to a report released Tuesday.\nSampson told representatives of the University and legal counsel from Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller that he did not recall former assistant men’s basketball coach Rob Senderoff speaking during 10 to 12 three-way calls in which the two were involved, according to the report the IU Athletics Department submitted to the NCAA \nCommittee on Infractions detailing men’s basketball recruiting violations. \nBut one recruit and the mother of another recruit said that during some of those calls, Senderoff and Sampson talked at the same time, according to the report.\n“…Two of the three individuals that Indiana University successfully contacted from the list of known phone numbers used in three-way recruiting calls, reported that Senderoff was involved in the respective conversations, as well as Sampson,” according to the report. “The University was careful to clarify with both individuals ... that both coaches participated in the conversation at the same time, as opposed to Senderoff speaking only during the first portion of the call and then remaining silent when Sampson was on the phone. The two individuals were specific in their recollections that the call involved Senderoff was involved during the whole call, and it should be noted that these calls were relatively recent.”\nThe department and Ice Miller, which serves as the University’s legal counsel on this matter, submitted the report to the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Oct. 3 for their review.\nPursuant to an Indiana Open Records request filed by the Indiana Daily Student, the department released the full report compiled by Ice Miller. \n“It’s important to keep this in perspective,” said IU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan during a teleconference with reporters yesterday. “That’s what we’ve tried to do in this analysis. We’ve tried to be objective, we’ve tried to be thorough, (and) we’ve tried to honor our commitment to share information both in a public way and also respecting the wishes of our requirements for confidentiality and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and some other things we at the University operate under.”
Three-way calls\nThe IU’s athletics compliance office sent a memorandum to the men’s basketball staff, per their request, dated June 13, 2006, which clarified the infractions committee’s stance on three-way phone calls, according to the 30-page report the IDS received Tuesday. The memorandum stated that three-way calls to recruits in which Sampson was a participant were not allowed under sanctions imposed on Sampson for his role in 577 excessive phone calls he and his staff made while he coached at Oklahoma. \n“… Since the coaches had requested and received a clear interpretation from the Committee on Infractions in June 2006 that three-way calling with Sampson would not be permissible, three-way calls should not have been an issue,” according to the report.\nBut they were.\nSampson participated in at least 10 and as many as 18 three-way phone calls with prospective student-athletes from May 25, 2006 to May 24 of this year. There is a discrepancy in the number because two calls appear to be dropped calls, one might not have been to a recruit and five calls were incoming. Ice Miller and IU were unable to determine if these were recruiting phone calls. Nine other three-way phone calls were made by the men’s basketball staff but were not recruiting calls involving Sampson, which did not constitute a violation.\nFormer assistant men’s basketball coach Rob Senderoff, who resigned his position Monday, was responsible for 10 to 12 three-way calls. The calls were made to six different recruits or recruits’ contacts.\nDuring a teleconference Tuesday to discuss the Ice Miller report, Robin Green Harris, senior counsel and co-chair for Ice Miller’s Collegiate Sports Practice, said Sampson does have caller ID on his cell phone, but she does not know if she ever asked Sampson if he had caller ID on his home phone. \nGreenspan said because of the limitations placed on Sampson by the sanctions, he received more calls than in previous years and did not always check his caller ID before answering his phone. \n“That phone was probably a shackle that was very significant, and as a result, even to the point where when I would call him he would pick it up on the first ring,” Greenspan said. “So I knew he was just picking it up (without checking caller ID).”\nSampson said only once was he aware he was participating in a three-way call, and according to the report, Senderoff said he never talked after he connected Sampson to the call. He only stayed on as an “operator,” according to the report. \nOnly three of the six involved in the known three-way calls were reached for comment in the report. While two said they heard both Sampson and Senderoff talk at the same time, the third, the coach of a recruit, said he did not recall ever talking to Sampson, according to the report. \nGreen Harris said the discrepancy did not change the way the calls were reported to the NCAA.\n“We looked at that and determined that those calls were impermissible, and in the report it makes that point, that we are reporting them as issues with the sanctions, and it didn’t matter whether or not Rob Senderoff was speaking on the call,” she said.\nSampson was not made available to reporters, and J.D. Campbell, director of athletics media relations, said Sampson would not comment on the matter until Thursday during his weekly press conference. \nAccording to the report, Senderoff said he did not believe he was violating the sanctions. \n“Senderoff stated that he thought this was a ‘gray’ area in regards to the Committee’s sanction and that he never intended to put Sampson or the University in a difficult position,” according to the report. “He also noted that he used poor judgment and that he probably should have asked the compliance staff to clarify whether his actions were permissible.”
Other impermissible calls\nIn addition to the 18 three-way phone calls in question, members of the men’s basketball staff made 111 phone calls that either violated the sanctions, violated NCAA rules or both. \nSenderoff made 101 of those calls, assistant coach Jeff Meyer made four of those calls and Sampson made two of those calls. Four calls were of “undetermined” origin. \nSampson’s two calls occurred during the two-month period after he was hired at IU and before the infractions committee issued its ruling on Oklahoma’s self-reported phone call violations. \nAccording to the report, the phone call violations occurred because members of the men’s basketball staff did not adequately report recruiting calls made from their home phones. Senderoff, Meyer and assistant coach Ray McCallum signed monthly documents that said they did not use their home phone for recruiting calls. Ice Miller’s review of their home phone records indicated otherwise, and Senderoff hired legal counsel before turning over those records. \nThe home recruiting phone calls were not included in the monthly phone logs that assistant coaches submitted to the compliance office. Because they went unreported, they caused some calls that appeared to be permissible to be impermissible, which was the case with the two calls placed by Sampson, according to the report.\nHome phone calls Senderoff and Meyer placed resulted in violations of the sanctions and NCAA rules. McCallum’s one home phone call did not violate either the sanctions or NCAA rules.\nAccording to the report, Senderoff said he rarely used his home phone and forgot to include those calls in his monthly recruiting phone log. \n“He admitted that this practice was sloppy and/or careless,” according to the report.
Sanctions\nIn assigning sanctions, the report states the University had a hard time determining the intentions of the coaches who participated in the three-way calls. The report concluded that, because of the number of phone calls in proportion to the number of recruiting calls made each year, “this could not have been a purposeful plan to circumvent the sanction.”\nUnder IU’s self-assessed sanctions, the men’s basketball team will lose one scholarship for the 2008-09 year and Sampson will not receive a scheduled $500,000 raise this year.\nMeyer will not receive bonuses this year or next, and Senderoff wouldn’t have either if he’d stayed. \nMeyer is scheduled to make $142,500 this year in base salary and Senderoff was scheduled to make $110,000, according to IU Financial Management Services. The IDS filed an open records request Tuesday in an attempt to retrieve the terms of Senderoff’s resignation.\nSenderoff was banned from recruiting off campus or placing recruiting calls for one year from the date of the submission of the report, and those sanctions will carry over to Dan Dakich, who will likely replace him. \nGreenspan said during the teleconference he expects Dakich, current director of basketball operations and former IU player, to replace Senderoff. \nThe NCAA received the report and is reviewing its contents. The infractions committee could impose harsher penalties if it deems necessary. After Oklahoma assessed penalties on Sampson for impermissible phone calls, the infractions committee assessed stricter sanctions. The Big Ten also has the authority to impose stricter sanctions. \nThere is no time frame for a ruling from the NCAA, and the Big Ten will review the NCAA’s actions before it makes its ruling.
