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NCAA Investigation into Indiana Basketball Program

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Dispatch

Big Ten: Indiana, Sampson reach buyout deal
Six players skip Dakich's first practice as coach
Saturday, February 23, 2008 3:10 AM



From wire and staff reports
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DARRON CUMMINGS Associated Press
Indiana basketball players Armon Bassett, right, and Jamarcus Ellis leave Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. They and senior captain D.J. White, Jordan Crawford, DeAndre Thomas and Brandon McGee skipped interim coach Dan Dakich's first practice.



BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Kelvin Sampson tainted the Indiana basketball program's clean-cut reputation. Now the Hoosiers are hoping the fallout doesn't do any further damage.
Sampson agreed to Indiana's offer of a $750,000 buyout yesterday, waiving his right to sue the university for further damages, and turning the program over to interim coach Dan Dakich.
Ohio State coach Thad Matta, whose Buckeyes play at Indiana on Tuesday, said he wouldn't have a reaction to what appeared to be Sampson's imminent suspension or firing.
"If I haven't learned a whole lot here, the one thing I did learn in my time at Ohio State, going through all the stuff I've seen transpire around us, allegations are allegations" until proved or refuted.
Indiana's response to an NCAA report charging Sampson with five major NCAA rules violations might create an even bigger mess for the 15th-ranked Hoosiers, starting with today's game at Northwestern.

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IndyStar

Sampson takes buyout in wake of allegations
IU: $550,000 for deal is coming from donor who won't be named

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Kelvin Sampson accepted a $750,000 buyout and resigned as Indiana University's men's basketball coach Friday night in the wake of NCAA recruiting violations.
He will be replaced on an interim basis by assistant Dan Dakich, starting with tonight's game at Northwestern.
The university said $550,000 of the buyout is coming from a donor who wants to remain anonymous, and the other $200,000 from athletic department funds.
The agreement prevents Sampson from suing the school.
"There was not a great appetite on either party's part to be involved in potentially contentious litigation," athletic director Rick Greenspan said at a 9 p.m. news conference that ended a tumultuous day of negotiations and media speculation. "This helps the team, the players, the university to heal quicker."

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Excerpts from a Hoosier blog; Link

"ding dong sampson is gone"


"who are we getting after dakich"

"Chris Korman states that Ebanks and Holloway are the recruits that have clauses to be released if a coaching change is made:"

" and a piss poor job from your athletic department sucks too."





"Stop and think deeply about the program. Knight did little since the early 90s. The game passed him by; he is an inveterate bully and hypocrite (like Woody Hayes); he cowed the adminstration of a respectable liberal arts university for well over 20 years and embarrassed its students and alums. Mike Davis is an honorable man who recruited fairly well but was an erratic buffoon and never had a chance. "

"Sampson was caught cheating (at OU, cesspool of integrity) and IU hired him anyway. (Illinois, BTW, wouldn't touch him back in 2003.) What does that say about how low the program had sunk and how desperate Greenspan was to field a winning team?"

"Dan Dakich is in a no win situation. If he guides the team to the final four he still won't get the benefit of the doubt as head coach. Whoever the new coach is will be screwed too. He'll need to win ASAP AND win clean."

"seriously...has the administration done anything well this decade? what a bunch of idiots."

"updated coaching list for me.....
1. Tony Bennett WSU
2. Brad Brownell Wright State-former cal cheany teammate in evansville
3. Anthony Grant"

"Sean Miller is better than the three."

"Timmy...Didin't you promise to stop posting if Sampson resigned?"

"Big A and I think I should be able to continue posting since Sampson was not fired but instead left on his own accord."
 
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I think it is laudable that this team would have a strong bond to their coach and support him. However, they are still kids, and Sampson should have been the one to sit with them, tell them that he was guilty (or at least most likely would be interpreted that way and continue to cause distraction), and ask them to make him proud by supporting the interim coach.

A real man admits a mistake and doesn't let kids with misplaced loyalty soil their own careers just so it looks like he was loved.

If he thinks he'll be back coaching college basketball soon, his disregard for these kids' loyalty is exceeded only by his ego and inability to assess public opinion.
 
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Good points Steve;
A couple of this team , D.J for one, were coached by Sampson into the players they are. So they have to have a great amount of respect for him and thus the sit out.
But I believe they will play for Dakich and IU again. The first burning question is will they beat NW for starters.

If you were to ask me if they would come back as a team or fall apart I would opt for coming together. Dakich is not a bad coach.
 
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IndyStar

2 recruits can opt out from IU
Letters of intent for Ebanks, Holloway allow them to go elsewhere with Sampson's exit

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University basketball signees Devin Ebanks and Terrell Holloway have provisions in their letters of intent that could release them from their commitment because of coach Kelvin Sampson's resignation Friday.
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IU athletic director Rick Greenspan did not identify them but said "one or two recruits" had letters with escape clauses related to NCAA Tournament bans or a change of coaches.
"That's a commitment obviously we'd honor," Greenspan said.
"The next challenge for this coaching staff will be to reach out to those young men and provide them some sense of comfort and normalcy in an environment that's very different than when they committed."

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IndyStar

Bob Kravitz
IU finally got it right, but only after ignoring 'zero tolerance'

It's over.
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Sort of.
The short, sordid Kelvin Sampson Era finally ended Friday night after a long day of threatened mutinies, back-channel negotiations, a boycotted practice and questions about the identity of the interim head coach.
Sampson, who revealed himself as a real prince by betraying the university's trust not once, but twice, walks away with $750,000, a sum he'd best invest wisely.
More important, though, IU got what it wanted most: an agreement by Sampson that he would not sue the university for wrongful termination or anything else.
Sure, it's a lot of money to pay a man to go away, a nice parting gift for a serial cheater, but it's loose change compared with the price the NCAA would have made IU pay had it gone to the mat for Sampson.
The university had to do what was in its best interest, and that was to cut ties with Sampson as soon as possible. Sorry, Jay Bilas, but if IU had played this out, they would have spent millions of dollars in attorney fees, would have destroyed at least one recruiting class by extending this into the summer, and likely would have been hammered by the NCAA, a group that doesn't have much sympathy for liars.
It took IU a while to get it right, and as I wrote here months ago, Sampson should have been let go when the internal investigation uncovered several violations of the terms of his probation. Instead, they withheld a $500,000 salary bonus and forced the resignation of one of his top recruiters, Rob Senderoff.

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USA Today:
Amid the turmoil in Indiana University's basketball program, there's one bit of good fortune that could help soothe a bitter fan base.
Dan Dakich, who sits three seats to the right of head coach Kelvin Sampson on the Hoosiers bench, is available to take over as interim coach should Sampson resign, be suspended or get fired.
Dakich, 45, has what many consider the perfect pedigree for the job. He's from Indiana, spent 16 seasons alongside Bob Knight ? first as a player, then 12 years as an assistant coach ? and has 10 years of head coaching experience at Bowling Green.
Indiana assistant Ray McCallum also grew up in Indiana and has head coaching experience at Ball State and Houston, but his longtime association with Sampson might work against him.
Two former Hoosiers who played with or for Dakich endorse him.
 
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FOX Sports on MSN - COLLEGE BASKETBALL - Sampson's departure just the start of tough times

Here's a message for Indiana fans: Enjoy the next month or so. After that, it may be downright ugly.


Kelvin Sampson is history. It may be termed a "resignation," but Sampson was basically fired on Friday night in the wake of an NCAA report that alleged five "major" violations. Sampson was given $750,000 ? including $550,000 from a private donor (aka booster), so that he wouldn't sue the university.
D.J. White will graduate after the season and freshman phenom Eric Gordon Jr., is a virtual shoo-in to go the NBA route after the year is over.
Reserves Lance Stemler and Mike White are also seniors. The program's top four returning players ? starters Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis, in addition to Jordan Crawford and DeAndre Thomas ? all chose to boycott Friday afternoon's practice.
In addition, FOXSports.com was told that there are issues involving the holdovers. Bassett and Crawford both received three-game suspensions earlier this season after failing drug tests.
There will be defections ? whether it's the current players or those who have already committed to playing at Indiana.
According to sources close to Indiana's top signee, Devin Ebanks, the talented wing will get a release from his letter-of-intent and will almost certainly go in another direction.
Ebanks, a consensus Top 15 national player, was expected to be the cornerstone of the Hoosiers program ? someone who would take the reins from Gordon and make certain there wasn't much, if any, of a drop-off from this season.
"I did have something in place that allows me to be released if Coach Sampson wasn't there," Ebanks said. "I'm going to use that to explore other options and I still want to wait and see who Indiana hires full-time, but I am going to talk things over with my mother and my coaches and go from there." Harmony Community School (Ohio) pass-first point guard Terrell Holloway also has a provision that allows him to get out of his letter-of-intent and a source close to Holloway indicated that "he is likely to go elsewhere."
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For all the delusional IU fans who think that they have a legitimate chance at enticing Matta to Bloomington, I think this quote is very telling.

Greenspan's wish list two years ago included Gonzaga's Mark Few, Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings and former West Virginia and current Michigan coach John Beilein. Few wasn't interested and Beilein's buyout at West Virginia was too hefty.
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Your tradition wasn't enough to get Mark Few to leave a Mid-Major and you can't afford Beilein's buyout yet you suddenly think Matta will be falling all over himself to get to Bloomington?
 
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Link

COLUMN: Some advice for IU on hiring a basketball coach

By BOB KRAVITZ
The Indianapolis Star
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Now that Indiana University is in the business of looking for a permanent (they hope) men's basketball coach, my goal is to save them money on those head-hunting service fees and aid them in their exhaustive, nationwide search.

First rule: Don't hire a head-hunting firm.

The last time, you either didn't heed its recommendation, or you got Kelvin Sampson as one of its top applicants. Either way, it was a mess and a complete waste of cash. If you're not going to follow the firm's recommendations, save the money. If the firm is going to produce Sampson as a candidate, save the money.

Believe me, if you gave me $100,000, I would have come up with somebody far better (and cleaner) than Sampson.

Second rule: Do your due diligence regarding the candidate's phone use.

When I say "due diligence," which is just a fancy way of saying, "yeah, we checked a couple of references," I mean looking under every rock. If this guy has so much as improperly used rollover minutes, strike him off the list. If he has so much as one impermissible phone call, or if he has any other skeletons in his closet, tell him buh-bye.

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Dispatch

The message that Indiana President Michael McRobbie sent when he created a 10-person search committee led by former Hoosiers football player Harry Gonso to find a men's basketball coach was clear: He doesn't want to make the same mistake twice.
That means not allowing athletic director Rick Greenspan to make the decision alone.
Greenspan hired Kelvin Sampson, a move that turned out to be disastrous. Now, Greenspan is only one of the 10 seeking candidates. Early targets likely include Xavier's Sean Miller, Washington State's Tony Bennett, Southern California's Tim Floyd, Baylor's Scott Drew and Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings.
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