I have no proof that the people in the NCAA that evaluate appeals were laughing and giggling their way through Kelvin Sampson's appeal of his sanctions. I like to think they were. Most people had a good laugh when they found out Sampson was appealing. Not surprisingly, Sampson had his appeal officially rejected today.
Essentially the appeal by Sampson came down to two arguments. The first was that the committee misinterpreted the evidence that was the basis of the penalties. That is, all those excessive phone calls at Indiana, the three-way calls, the "mistakes" that were made. The committee just looked at them the wrong way. The 100 plus phone calls were simply individual mistakes and not reflective of a pattern.
The other claim was that the enforcement staff that investigated and brought the charges before the committee were biased against him. Of course those past violations from Oklahoma that were almost the same as what happened at Indiana should be ignored. To say nothing of how they factored into the harsher penalties on Sampson
The NCAA upheld the penalties handed down by the infractions committee that effectively banned him from coaching in the NCAA for five years. Hopefully Sampson will finally let it go.
He may be done in college basketball, but he still has a coaching future.He is an assistant in the NBA, and has always been a players' coach. His basketball acumen has never been questioned. Just his ethics.
As the buzzer sounded in Conseco Fieldhouse early Thursday evening, the Indiana Hoosiers had lost to Penn State by a count of 66 to 51. Tom Crean's first season as head basketball coach had mercifully concluded. The Hoosiers will miss the NCAA Tournament for only the third time since A Season on the Brink was published. They will miss any sort of postseason play for the second time since 1977. In fact, this was -- statistically speaking -- the worst team in Indiana basketball history.
The funny thing? I was much more relieved when last season ended, and I guarantee I'm not alone among Indiana alumni.
A few weeks ago I did a halfway point roundup for the Big Ten, in which I buried Wisconsin and hailed Penn State to no end. Boy, do I look like an idiot now. Since then, Penn State crumbled, while Wisconsin has done a 180.
The Nittany Lions were embarrassed by Michigan, lost at home to Wisconsin, and handily lost at Purdue. They now sit just 6-6 in conference play, and their RPI has plunged into the 80s. With road trips to Illinois and Ohio State -- not to mention hosting Illinois and Minnesota -- it would appear they are fading back into obscurity.
After the dust settled in the NCAA's investigations of Kelvin Sampson, the former coach of Indiana and Oklahoma was virtually banned for five years from coaching college basketball.
It's not a hard-and-fast ban, but the process schools would have to go through to hire Sampson make it likely not worth the effort -- especially considering the baggage he already carries.
Today, the Indianapolis Star reported that Sampson is appealing his punishment. As you can expect, the grounds for appeal are quite lame, and don't appear to have much chance to stick.
There is a teleconference scheduled for 4:00 today, in which the NCAA will announce their findings against Indiana University. The investigation centered around model citizen Kelvin Sampson and the squeaky clean job he did in his short time at Indiana. Taking down a program who had never even been under suspicion in terms of NCAA rules violations in less than two years is a pretty bang-up job, you know. Regardless, the albatross is gone, and Tom Crean is picking up the pieces in a massive rebuilding effort.
That effort should not be impeded any further than it already has been, because the NCAA will impose three years of probation and nothing more. No postseason ban -- which doesn't really mean much short-term, since the team isn't sniffing the postseason this year anyway -- and no further sanctions in terms of being handcuffed in recruiting. What probation means is that the university will have to regularly file reports with the NCAA, detailing how they are following the rules.
Indiana University's legal bills have reached almost a half-million dollars in the NCAA infractions case related to former men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.
Through July, IU had spent $497,646 on outside legal counsel specializing in NCAA issues, including $211,034 for work done starting in April.
More bills, related to the school's September response to the NCAA's charge of "failure to monitor," are expected.
Again, those are just the bills through July. Not to date. The majority of the legal fees has gone to the Ice Miller law firm. The total fees also include the attorney fees Indiana paid back in 2006 for themselves and Kelvin Sampson regarding his infractions back at Oklahoma. Money well spent.
So, for those following the money. The school spent $750,000 to get rid of Sampson. Another $250,000 or so to buy out a couple other assistants. They have spent at least $500,000 in legal fees. A whopping $1.5 million so far, give or take several thousand. Oh, and to get Tom Crean to come in, take a beating this year and clean things up they are paying him over $2 million for the next eight years.
Suffice to say, that regardless of what happens to Kelvin Sampson from the NCAA his future as a college coach should be over. Any athletic director with half a brain would look not only at how Sampson left Oklahoma and Indiana, but how much it has cost Indiana to clean-up afterward.
While college football fans across the country await the start of the new season with a drooling fervor there are also some fans who dread it. Why? Because they know their season is already over before it's even started. Oh sure, their boys are still going to go out there every Saturday and play hard for 60 minutes, but it's not going to make a bit of difference.
They're going to lose, and they're going to lose a lot.
No conference can escape from having teams like this, it's just a part of the game. They still serve their purpose because the good teams in the conference need a breather once in a while, and they also need six wins to qualify for a bowl game.
These teams are the conferences dirty little secret. They're the red-headed step child that's told to stay in their room when company comes over. They are the dregs of Big Ten, and they're here to play another set of 12 games whether we want them to or not.
The school already pulled one scholarship for the 2008-09 season as self-punishment for the Sampson stuff -- to demonstrate to the NCAA the sincerity of their shame. Now, they are taking two more scholarships from the 2008-09 season to forestall any possible penalties for next year with regards to the Academic Progress Report (APR).
Since the end of last season, IU has lost seven players with eligibility remaining. Eric Gordon went to the NBA. Brandon McGee, DeAndre Thomas, Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis were dismissed from the team. Eli Holman transferred and Jordan Crawford also left.
Privacy laws prevent disclosures about the players' academic standing, but Crean has described IU's situation as "crisis mode" and said he "inherited a tremendous amount of dysfunction."
There are other reasons to take what appears to be a severe hit this season.
Indiana President Michael McRobbie can't be blamed for the decision to hire coach Kelvin Sampson, who left in disgrace four months ago -- Sampson was already coach before McRobbie got the job of president.
But McRobbie can be blamed for not acting more swiftly to deal with Sampson and athletic director Rick Greenspan, who resigned last week.
I have no proof that the people in the NCAA that evaluate appeals were laughing and giggling their way through Kelvin Sampson's appeal of his sanctions. I like to think they were. Most people had a good laugh when they found out Sampson was appealing. Not surprisingly, Sampson had his appeal officially rejected today.
As the buzzer sounded in Conseco Fieldhouse early Thursday evening, the Indiana Hoosiers had lost to Penn State by a count of 66 to 51. 
A few weeks ago I did a 
After the dust settled in the NCAA's investigations of 
There is a teleconference scheduled for 4:00 today, in which the NCAA will announce their findings against Indiana University. The investigation centered around model citizen 
The legacy of 
While college football fans across the country await the start of the new season with a drooling fervor there are also some fans who dread it. Why? Because they know their season is already over before it's even started. Oh sure, their boys are still going to go out there every Saturday and play hard for 60 minutes, but it's not going to make a bit of difference.
Given the way the 2008-09 season is shaping up, it may be a bad year for Indiana fans to have 
Indiana President Michael McRobbie can't be blamed for the decision to hire coach 
