Colleges

Indiana's Sampson banned from calling recruits

By TIMES WIRES
Published May 26, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA banned new Indiana basketball coach Kelvin Sampson from calling recruits and visiting them off-campus for one year on Thursday, ruling he deliberately broke its rules by making extra phone calls to potential players while coaching at Oklahoma.

The decision, announced by the committee on infractions, also requires Indiana to adopt the restrictions Oklahoma placed on Sampson, where he coached before Indiana hired him this year.

"The former head coach created and encouraged an atmosphere among his staff of deliberate noncompliance, rationalizing the violations as being a result of "prioritizing' rules," infractions committee chairman Thomas Yeager said in a written statement.

It was not immediately clear if the Hoosiers would fire Sampson, who was in Kuwait and unavailable for comment.

Indiana hired Sampson in March amid an investigation into 577 extra phone calls Sampson and Sooners assistant coaches made to 17 recruits from 2000 and 2004.

UCF extended coach George O'Leary's contract through 2015. The deal delivers $1-million in the first year, with gradual increases to $1.55-million in 2015 and $500,000 in possible incentives each season. "Believe me, we have a lot of work to do. Every dollar will be surely worked," O'Leary said.

Pepperdine's Eileen Vargas shot 75 (214 total) for a three-stroke lead in the individual competition after three rounds at the NCAA women's championship in Columbus, Ohio. Defending team champion Duke (876) holds a 13-stroke lead over Southern California. Florida sophomore Sandra Gal shot 72 and heads into today's final round tied with three others for second (217). Another Gator sophomore, Tiffany Chudy, shot 76 (220) and is tied for ninth. Florida is tied for seventh (902).

Florida sophomore Greg Ouellette was eliminated from the NCAA singles draw in Palo Alto, Calif., falling to Duke's fifth-ranked Ludovic Walter, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-5. Meanwhile, Florida's Whitney Benik and Alexis Gordon upset Harvard's third-ranked Melissa Anderson and Elsa O'Riain 6-4, 6-0 at the NCAA women's doubles championships in Stanford, Calif. South Florida's doubles team of Gabriela Duch and Neyssa Etienne advanced to the round of 16, defeating Merve Asimgil and Sylvia Kosakowski of Pepperdine 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

[Last modified May 26, 2006, 00:51:15]