Sampson confirms appeal, calling NCAA ruling wrong
January 29th, 2009 Posted in NCAA basketball news, NCAA college basketballKelvin Sampson has no intention of coaching college basketball anytime soon.
Even if the NCAA allows him.
Sampson, now an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks, confirmed Wednesday he has appealed the NCAA’s decision, stemming from more than 100 impermissible phone calls made while he was Indiana University’s coach. But even though he is enjoying life in the NBA, Sampson believes it’s his responsibility to continue fighting for exoneration.
“I think they were wrong,” he said during warmups before Wednesday night’s game with the Indiana Pacers. “They were wrong in every way. If I didn’t think they were wrong, I wouldn’t have appealed.”
Sampson received five years of potential penalties when the NCAA ruled on the case last November, including an order that could keep him from coaching in college for the next four years.
The NCAA ruled Sampson ignored signed compliance agreements with Indiana, ignored the recruiting restrictions he was already under from a similar case at Oklahoma and deliberately lied to infractions committee members.
But his appeal is based on two points: That the NCAA misinterpreted evidence and that the infractions committee was biased against him.
NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said the organization does not comment on appeals until there is a ruling.
Sampson acknowledged he and his staff had erred, though not deliberately.
“When someone makes a mistake, the first thing you have to ascertain is intent,” he said. “There was no scheme or nobody sitting around trying to get away with something. A lot of people paid the price for those mistakes.”
For Sampson, it was the most extensive interview he has had regarding the allegations since fall of 2007 when the allegations were first made public.
Wednesday’s game against the Pacers marked his first trip back to Indiana for a game since accepting a $750,000 buyout in February that ended his 1 1/2-year tenure with the Hoosiers. The biggest question Wednesday was how fans, angered by the first major infractions case against the school in nearly 50 years, would react.
Sampson acknowledged he spoke with several former players Tuesday night and Wednesday and said some of his friends from Bloomington, Ind., drove through a snowstorm for a get-together Tuesday night.
He even took time during the interview to reflect on previous games he had with the Hoosiers at Conseco Fieldhouse.
But after saying he loved coaching college basketball, Sampson sounded resigned to the fact it was no longer an option for him.
“I’ve not really thought about it, but probably not,” he said. “I’m committed to the NBA, so probably not.”
While the homecoming was overshadowed by Sampson’s case, and subsequent appeal, he thanked Bucks coach Scott Skiles for giving him another full-time opportunity to coach.
“It really is a different life, a different lifestyle,” Sampson said. “At the end of the day, it’s still basketball and I’m still helping young people become better. That’s what I love to do.”
The fallout from Sampson’s infractions case created a major overhaul at Indiana.
Sampson’s assistants have all left school, the compliance department was restructured and new coach Tom Crean has only two returning players from Sampson’s last team on the roster. Athletic director Rick Greenspan also has resigned.
Former player Eric Gordon also accused some of his teammates of taking illegal drugs at Indiana.
When Crean was hired, he accepted the remainder of the school’s self-imposed recruiting penalties which were later reduced, and the team has only nine scholarship players instead of 13 normally allowed by the NCAA.
Sampson said he has not followed the Hoosiers closely this season, though he called it an honor to coach in Bloomington and believed Crean would get the program, off to its worst start in decades, turned around.
“I was just telling (Pacers guard) T.J. (Ford) how detached you get because I’m responsible for scouting 12 teams on nights we’re not playing. You just don’t get a lot of time to follow it,” he said. “But Tom is the coach now, and he’s a good coach, and he will lead that team to championships.”
