Our Honor Defend

You guys have already gotten me in Dutch for getting fat. And then I got in double Dutch for having liposuction. And now you’re asking me to get in triple Dutch? Nuh-uh. I’ll never be that Dutch.

Kelvin Sampson might have done did it now.

Today, the NCAA released a statement alleging that Kelvin Sampson violated the terms of his sanctions from punishment acquired at Oklahoma. Moreover, the NCAA attached the “major” tag, so, indeed, Kelvin Sampson might be in Triple Dutch.

Much of the hullaballoo stems from “impermissible phone calls” made by Sampson, and assistant coaches Jeff Meyer and Rob Senderoff. Making matters worse is the NCAA’s allegation that Sampson and staff then lied about the phone calls to school officials and the NCAA.

I know I’m not too interested in what goes on in Indiana’s program, but if memory serves correct, Sampson was prohibited from making outgoing calls to recruits and going on the road to visit a recruit. The terms applied to him even participating in a phone conversation with a recruit when an assistant was making the call.

With that said, here’s what the NCAA is saying:

• Sampson, Meyer, and Senderoff participated in “conference calls”, whereby the assistant would dial the recruit’s number and Sampson would join in after connection was established. The NCAA says there was about 100 of these.
• Sampson and co. placed 25 phone calls to 9 recruits that would put him in trouble even without the presence of sanctions
• Violation of ethical conduct for violating the terms of his sanctions from the Infraction Committee.
• Engaged a recruit at Assembly Hall and gave him an “improper benefit”, which was allegedly a t-shirt and one of those tiny drawstring backpacks all athletes have. Seems kind of silly, but I don’t know the full terms of his prior punishment on this regard or if there were rules prohibiting that regardless.

Full text of the NCAA’s inquiry is here. Of interest for Buckeye fans: Evan Turner was one of the recruits mentioned as receiving an “impermissible call” from Senderoff. Turner was a junior who was contacted twice in the same month by Senderoff, which violates NCAA regulations for contact with juniors, apparently. OSU signee William Buford Jr was mentioned as having participated in one of the three way calls.