Ray Lopes-Fresno St/Sampson-IU/OU Phone calls

[Angrybluejaydan]

I don't get this.

Ray Lopes was fired last year at Fresno State for violating an NCAA rule requiring no phone calls to potential recruits during an official "dead period". Ray admitted that he made illegal calls during the dead periods while he was head coach at FSU for two years and during the two previous years as an assistant to Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma. Two weeks ago he told the NCAA he simply "didn't know the phone calls were against the rules" during the FSU hearings on the matter. FSU offered to go on probation for a year, self imposed. The NCAA said, "Not one year, FOUR years, and Ray, you are barred from coaching at any NCAA member institution for the next 3 YEARS and then you must show cause after that three year period in order to have coaching privileges reinstated." The NCAA said that bar on Ray was done because he didn't provide "any evidence" that he didn't know it was against the rules to make all of those phone calls, 500 were in violation of the rule.

Last week, Kelvin Sampson testified during Oklahoma's hearing for the same violations. Lopes attended the hearings. Sampson admitted to a similar number of illegal phone calls during the dead periods and said he didn't know it was against the rules also.He made these calls over the course of 4 years. He went further than Lopes, however, and described details of his ignorance of the rules, such as "I thought all the other schools were making the same number of calls". Oklahoma has agreed to go on probation for a year, like FSU. Indiana has "self imposed" penatlies on Sampson: He only gets to make 9 in home recruiting visits during the next year as opposed to the 12 visits that are usually allowed, among other items. Sampson's Indiana contract will be lowered by $100,000 in its first year if the NCAA finds that there are violations.

How is Sampson going to avoid the three year barr and show cause requirement that was imposed on Lopes? If they simply slap Sampson on the wrist does Lopes need to file a lawsuit, equal protection?

BTW I posted this information and question on the Indiana Rivals message board and the administrator deleted it.

Thoughts?

[MSU Bleeds Maroon]

If I'm not mistaken, Fresno State was put on probation at least once during Jerry Tarkanian's regime. To be caught committing NCAA infractions again implies a pattern -- the dreaded "lack of institutional control" that multiplies penalties.

But if the NCAA came down so hard on Lopes, it might not accept Indiana's "self-imposed" penalties as being sufficient. The jury is obviously still out on that.

[MSNSaluki]

i suspect lopes got the punishment he did thanks to the acts of all the outlaws who came before him in the fresno state program.

[engrshock]

My understanding is that OU was under investigation when a lot of these 500 extra phone calls occurred. Lack of institutional control indeed.

[MVC Fan]

To add to this, I believe now-former SMU coach Jimmy Tubbs also was let go in part because of excessive illegal phone calls. Before being at SMU, he was an assistant coach to-you guessed it-Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma.

This was obviously a common thread among coaches at OU. In that regard, I've felt that Sampson deserves to be hit extra hard on this issue, maybe Oklahoma, too. Sampson obviously either didn't know the rule or didn't care, but not knowing is never an excuse. To be that far outside of the allowed number, he had to know to at least check on this. Basically anything you do in an athletic dept., it's known that if you have 1% doubt about if its legal, you check on it. Oklahoma could also easily be hit for a lack of institutional control. The fact that a # of ex-OU coaches have been guilty of this, one wonders just how long this went on w/o being checked by anyone there.

[shockball]

Updated: May 8, 2006, 9:13 PM ET
Sampson has acknowledged 'mistakes' with SoonersAssociated Press


INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana University would not have to pay any penalty to new basketball coach Kelvin Sampson if the school were to fire him because of NCAA sanctions stemming from recruiting violations while he was Oklahoma's coach.

The contract Sampson signed April 20 says Indiana "may take further action, up to and including termination" if the NCAA "imposes more significant penalties or sanctions than the University of Oklahoma's self-imposed sanctions."

The Indianapolis Star reported about the final contract on its Web site Monday, saying it obtained the contract through a public records request.

The provision was not included in the agreement Sampson signed when Indiana decided in March to hire him to succeed Mike Davis.

Since accepting the Indiana job, Sampson has acknowledged making "mistakes" while at Oklahoma.

The NCAA infractions committee on April 21 heard from Oklahoma officials about more than 550 impermissible calls between 2000 and 2004 made by Sampson and his assistant coaches. A ruling could come within a month, and if Sampson is sanctioned with recruiting restrictions, those penalties could follow him to Indiana.

Oklahoma's self-imposed sanctions, for 2005-06 and 2006-07, included recruiting restrictions and freezing Sampson's salary at $1.01 million.

Under Sampson's contract at Indiana, he will make $1.1 million in the first year of the seven-year deal and $1.6 million a year after that.

The contract also explicitly states that Sampson is not eligible during his first year for performance bonuses, such as for winning the Big Ten title. It also gives the school the right to fire Sampson without obligation if his assistant coaches commit serious or repeated NCAA rules violations.