OPINION

By Mike DeCourcy

updated 4:25 p.m. ET Feb. 14, 2008

Mike DeCourcy

There is a simple question facing the Indiana University today:

Has it done enough?

When the school revealed, in the fall, the results of an internal investigation that indicated coach Kelvin Sampson had participated in impermissible three-way calls while under NCAA sanctions that prohibited him from working recruits on the phone, it took several steps designed to ward off future NCAA sanctions.

Among those were Sampson forgoing a pay raise, the team forfeiting one scholarship spot, the school imposing additional recruiting restrictions and, ultimately, making the cynical decision to dismiss assistant coach Rob Senderoff, who allegedly was involved in the three-way calls. That action served as a declaration IU intended to keep its head coach and that it thought sacrificing a lower-level employee ought to be sufficient punishment.

Perhaps it was. The arrival of a letter of inquiry from the NCAA alleging major infractions by Sampson might be nothing more than a procedural matter — although the use of the term "major violation" indicates the infractions committee takes a dimmer view of these activities than the university.

IU will have to appear in front of the infractions committee, most likely in June, and will have the opportunity to explain why the actions it already took are sufficient.

There must be some wondering going on in Bloomington, though, about whether the penalties were thorough enough.

This is different from what Ohio State went through four years ago. When OSU discovered compliance issues in its basketball program, the university immediately removed coach Jim O'Brien. With new coaches in place and a bright future beckoning, the Buckeyes removed themselves from consideration for postseason play in 2005 and played with two less scholarship players that season. They also vacated achievements recorded under O'Brien, including multiple Big Ten Conference championships and the 1999 Final Four.

The NCAA Tournament ban was an overreaction, given how rarely that penalty is applied. But taking that step meant OSU could be reasonably certain the NCAA would have no greater penalties in store. It was almost as if they chopped off their arms to be sure there'd be no slap on the wrist.

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When Ohio State took itself out of the 2005 tournament, the Buckeyes had Greg Oden on the way. This is Indiana's Greg Oden year, however, so IU wishes to avoid that step. The Hoosiers are only going to have star freshman guard Eric Gordon this season, and big man D.J. White might take off, as well. This is as good as it's going to get in Bloomington for a while.

But with the letter of inquiry in hand, there still is the opportunity for Indiana to examine the NCAA's findings and conclude additional penalties would be warranted.

My contention remains that if Indiana really wants to salvage the future of Sampson's program — and, so far, it has shown a passionate interest in this course — one positive step would be to sanction him by prohibiting him from coaching any postseason games, including those in the Big Ten Tournament. That would show some level of contrition from the IU administration.

It would be an unusual penalty, but this is an unusual circumstance. IU is in trouble specifically because Sampson was hired by the university when he was still fighting off a case at Oklahoma that also involved making excess phone calls.

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Because of that, Indiana's investigation of this matter tended to be conservative. Some calls that could have been explained as permissible were thrown into the "excess" category just to be safe. Even then, the number of calls is not overwhelming. If any other coaches were facing these specific charges, they very well might have been declared minor cases.

Indiana is fortunate to have three former head coaches working as assistants: Dan Dakich (Bowling Green), Ray McCallum (Houston) and Jeff Meyer (Liberty). So even though the Hoosiers certainly would miss Sampson's ability to inspire and strategize, they would not be left without experienced leaders to take over the team.

Or, Indiana could answer that one simple question — has it done enough? — with a sheepish "yes."

The NCAA seems rather angry, though. I'm not sure I'd mess with them.

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