NCAA sanction decision will look at past actions

The NCAA Committee on Infractions will take into account a variety of factors, including whether there was a “pattern of behavior,” before it issues its final ruling on impermissible phone calls made by IU men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson and his staff. \nStacey Osburn, associate director of public and media relations for the NCAA, said the infractions committee received Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller’s report detailing IU’s violation of NCAA \nsanctions. \nThe athletics department disclosed Sunday that Sampson participated in 10 three-way phone calls with prospective student athletes, a violation of NCAA sanctions imposed on Sampson for his role in 577 excessive recruiting phone calls while he coached at Oklahoma. \nAdditionally, IU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan announced Sunday that men’s basketball coaches made 35 phone calls more than the limit allowed by the NCAA, the same infraction Sampson and his staff committed at Oklahoma. \nIU is “a few days away” from submitting a report detailing the 35 excessive phone calls, a secondary NCAA violation, said IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre.\nIU imposed sanctions against Sampson and his staff for the violations. IU will lose one basketball scholarship for the 2008-09 season, and Sampson will voluntarily forego a scheduled $500,000 raise this year. Assistant coach Rob Senderoff, who was responsible for most of the impermissible phone calls, is not allowed to recruit off campus and cannot make phone calls for recruiting purposes for one year. Senderoff will not receive a salary bonus this year or next. \nNCAA member institutions are required to self-investigate, self-report and self-sanction if violations occur. The NCAA Committee on Infractions reviews those reports and can add stricter sanctions if it deems necessary. Typically, the NCAA is more forgiving of institutions who self-report than those who are caught by the Indianapolis-based athletics association. \nOsburn said there is no timetable for the infractions committee ruling. \n“The committee will look at the totality of the situation and then decide,” she said. “It’s really a case-by-case basis.”\nOsburn said there is no way to determine if the NCAA would impose a stricter penalty because Sampson and his staff violated previously imposed sanctions instead of NCAA bylaws. She said the committee looks at a variety of factors, including the number of violations, competitive advantage gained from the violations, pattern of behavior and a staff’s willingness to cooperate during investigations.\nOsburn said it is unclear whether Sampson will receive a stricter penalty because he previously had been punished for excessive phone calls.\n“It’s not a cut and dry situation,” she said. \nDuring a teleconference Sunday, Grace Calhoun, IU assistant athletics director for student development and compliance, said the department is confident the sanctions are strict enough.\nThe infractions were uncovered when an intern in the IU athletics compliance office was performing a standard yearly review of phone records. The infractions had previously been overlooked by the compliance staff during the office’s monthly review, MacIntyre said. \n“This does not indicate a glitch,” he said. “This indicates the system is working.”\nIU was planning to wait until the NCAA issued its final ruling before announcing the infractions, but after the news was leaked on IU fan Web site HoosierNation.com, officials decided to announce the new sanctions on Sunday, MacIntyre said.