Wow, a wild situation is taking place in Bloomington, Indiana.
The latest dilemma for Indiana basketball came when the NCAA revealed a list of five major violations alleged to take place during Kelvin Sampson's regime.
I spoke to Sampson on Thursday afternoon. He indicated to me he is simply sticking by his statement that he will prove at his hearing in June that allegations of misleading the NCAA and Indiana University are not valid. He emphasized how he has been coaching over 25 years and other than this phone call controversy at Oklahoma and Indiana, he has never been involved in major infractions such as academic fraud, recruiting players by attempting to intentionally violate NCAA rules and regulations.
Sampson said he will prepare his team the best way possible, getting them ready for Michigan State. Nobody at the university has indicated that his job status has changed in any shape or form. I stated to him that if these allegations are valid, it would be almost impossible to survive.
In fairness, he is entitled his day to speak before the committee and present his defense. Then a legitimate decision can be made.
The danger, as I indicated to him, what creates a major dilemma for him and his defense, there is validation of illegal phone calls made at Oklahoma, followed by over 100 illegal calls at Indiana. Now there are the charges of misleading university and NCAA personnel. That is very damaging and will take a strong defense to overcome in the ultimate end.
He also said he wants everyone to just simply "tell the truth."
Lately, it has been one embarrassment after another for the once-proud Indiana program. Yes, there is a process to go through and Indiana will have time to provide a written response by early May. But also remember that there was a zero tolerance policy on Bob Knight when he was coaching the Hoosiers. My friends, guys like Knight and Dean Smith never broke the rules. Those gentlemen did things the right way. They won with integrity when they coached.
I joked during the Maryland-Duke game that Knight is available and that perhaps Indiana should make a call. That will not happen.
The bottom line is allegations of five major violations is very serious stuff. The NCAA said that its investigators and Indiana officials were misled by Sampson.
If these violations are deemed valid, I don't see how Sampson can survive the heat.
I know athletic director Rick Greenspan said he was embarrassed by the whole situation. I feel Greenspan should be partially responsible for this situation. He must be held accountable because he stuck with the decision to hire Sampson even after the NCAA discovered the coach made over 500 illegal recruiting calls while at Oklahoma.
It is a shame. If you knew Sampson, he is a good guy who loves coaching. Recruiting can take you off the edge, but there is no excuse for that and the head coach must be held accountable for the actions of the program.
Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in December 1979. Send him a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.
