Sampson refuses response

CHICAGO – For the second year in a row, IU men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson fended off questions at Big Ten Media Day about his recruiting practices.\nLast year, Sampson was criticized for the way he wooed current IU freshman Eric Gordon away from a commitment to play at Illinois. \nOn Sunday, Sampson refused to answer questions about NCAA violations he and his staff committed since May 2006. \nAssistant coach Rob Senderoff, the man the IU Athletics Department has said is responsible for making dozens of impermissible phone calls, did not attend a men’s basketball open practice Friday. When asked about Senderoff’s absence, Sampson sharply declined comment. \n“No, I’m not answering none of those questions,” Sampson said. “I am not even getting into any of that stuff. We’re dealing with stuff, and I’m going to coach my team.”\nWhen asked what Senderoff’s role has been in practices, Sampson said “I’m not getting into that.”\nThe brief exchange with reporters came during a three-hour interview period at the annual event. \nAfter the open practice, Director of Athletics Media Relations J.D. Campbell said Senderoff missed the practice to tend to personal matters.\nIU’s sanctions stem from a series of recruiting phone calls involving Sampson and members of his staff. Sampson participated in three-way phone calls on 10 occasions from May 2006 to May 2007. Three-way phone calls are allowed by NCAA rules, but the NCAA-imposed sanctions, which Sampson received for impermissible phone calls he and his staff made while he coached at Oklahoma, barred Sampson from participating in them. \nAdditionally, members of the IU men’s basketball staff made 35 more phone calls than the NCAA’s allowable limit for contacting recruits, which is a secondary violation. Most of those calls were made by Senderoff.\nUnder IU’s self-imposed sanctions for the violations, Senderoff is prohibited from traveling off campus for recruiting or making phone calls for recruiting purposes for one year. During a teleconference with reporters to disclose the violations on Oct. 14, Sampson said Senderoff, a key recruiter, would play an increased role in team practices.\nIU will lose a scholarship for the 2008-2009 season, and Sampson will not receive a scheduled $500,000 raise. \nThe NCAA could punish the University further if it deems necessary, and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said the Big Ten could also take further action.\n“The Big Ten always reviews actions of the NCAA,” Delany said.\nWhile Sampson declined comment on the situation, Illinois coach Bruce Weber said he hoped coaches would follow the rules more often. \n“I know I’m not perfect; our staff isn’t perfect,” Weber said. “You’re going to make mistakes, but you hope guys make a conscious effort to stay within the limitations that are put on you, because that’s why they’re there, to help us. It’s why you have stoplights, it’s why you have speed limits – for the betterment of everybody.”\nWeber said his staff and the compliance staff at Illinois “closely monitor” phone calls made to recruits. \n“You might make a mistake here and there,” he said, “and that happens. Everybody probably has some secondary violations somewhere.”\nWeber criticized Sampson last year for his handling of Gordon’s recruitment. \nSampson’s friend and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said there has been some damage done to the IU coach’s reputation. \n“I feel bad for him,” Izzo said. “I feel bad for our league a little bit, because you don’t want those kinds of negative things. But I don’t judge people on some of those NCAA rules that are difficult to follow, to interpret and to deal with in this never-ending struggle to recruit.”\nSampson and Izzo talked two days after IU disclosed the new violations, Izzo said.\n“Not to make fun of anything, but to follow all the rules right now, you almost need a personal secretary riding around with you,” he said. “I am good friends with Kelvin. I don’t know all of the situation, so I’m not going to be judge and jury. But from what I’ve heard, from what I’ve read, it seems like pretty tough punishments when I’ve seen other schools maybe not punished as strongly for things I think are a lot worse.”\nLike Illinois, Purdue coach Matt Painter and staff closely monitor their phone logs. Painter and his staff meet weekly to plan phone calls made to high school seniors and have monthly meetings to plan phone calls made to high school juniors. Under NCAA rules, a coaching staff can place two calls per week to a high school senior and one call per month to high school sophomores and juniors. \nBecause of the nature of the rule, Painter said he believes it is understandable how a coach could slip up.\n“I think you can make honest mistakes,” he said. “There can be an exception here and there where you can make an honest mistake. I think you have to have some wiggle room in our business to make an honest mistake, because that’s what everybody does, as long as the intent is to go by the rule and not circumvent the rule.\n“There are some guys who make honest mistakes, and we can’t sit there and crucify them for trying to do what’s right and slipping up a little bit.”