Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has announced penalties for Kelvin Sampson, hired in March as head basketball coach at Indiana University, as well as for the basketball program at Oklahoma University, where Sampson coached for twelve years. The penalties are for recruiting violations. According to the NCAA's committee on infractions, between 2000 and 2004, Sampson and three assistants made 577 impermissible telephone calls to recruits. Sampson himself made 233 of the calls. The NCAA committee called the violations "willful" and added, in a statement: "This case is the result of the former head coach's complete disregard for N.C.A.A. guidelines for proper telephone contacts with recruits. The former head coach created and encouraged an atmosphere among his staff of deliberate noncompliance, rationalizing the violations as being a result of 'prioritizing' rules.'' The penalties for Oklahoma's basketball program include censure, two years on probation, two fewer scholarships in next year's season, one fewer scholarships for the following season, and reduced recruiting visits and recruiting calls. Penalties for Sampson in his new position at Indiana include not being allowed to make telephone calls or off-campus visits to recruits for one year, having his salary frozen at $1.01 million for two years, and not being allowed salary bonuses for performance.