Indiana Coach Punished

Indiana Hoosiers basketball coach Kelvin Sampson has been found in violation of NCAA recruiting restrictions. Apparently Sampson was involved in no less than ten phone conversations with recruits, calls in which he was not allowed to be involved. Sampson had been in trouble for recruiting violations during his career as the coach of Oklahoma’s basketball team, and thus was in a sort of probationary period of restricted access to hoops recruits. As punishment, the IU basketball team will lose one of its scholarships. Sampson himself will lose $500,000 in bonuses he would have received this year, though he is voluntarily giving up that money.

Indiana finished third in the Big-10 last season, were a 7 seed in the tournament, and lost to UCLA in the second round. The loss one scholarship will probably not have much of an adverse effect on the IU Hoosiers next year, as they will likely be a tournament contender once more. Sampson voluntarily giving up half a million dollars should probably alert him to the fact that he should lay off the hard pitch recruiting tactics for a while. 

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Permalink - Posted in General on October 17, 2007 - Post a comment