Sampson slips away after testimony ends

SEATTLE – Kelvin Sampson ended two days of playing public peek-a-boo by slipping out as his former boss at Indiana thanked the NCAA for its two-day, closed-door hearing before a panel that will determine whether the former coach violated recruiting rules.

“I would like to thank the NCAA Committee on Infractions for granting us the opportunity to present our case and our institutional position during this hearing,” Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan wrote in a statement handed out Saturday by senior associate athletic director Tim Fitzpatrick in the lobby of the Hotel Deca to complete a cloak-and-dagger weekend in which no one wanted to talk.

As Fitzpatrick issued IU’s statement, Sampson, whom the NCAA accuses of providing false and misleading information to investigators about more than 100 impermissible phone calls to recruits, left out of view.

The NCAA also accuses Sampson with knowingly violating NCAA recruiting restrictions imposed because of a previous phone-call scandal at Oklahoma. Sampson, who also formerly coached Washington State, is now an assistant coach with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.

“We realize that this is a very serious matter, and are grateful to the members of the Committee on Infractions for their vital role in conducting these proceedings,” Greenspan’s statement read. “We look forward to the adjudication of this matter in the future, and until the Committee’s decision is rendered, I will have no further comment regarding this subject.”

Stacey Osburn, associate director of media relations for the NCAA, said the decision on possible sanctions likely won’t be known for at least six weeks. She said the committee was likely meeting Saturday evening to discuss what to do next before it heads back to NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis today.

Indiana faces a possible postseason ban. Sampson and former Hoosiers assistant Rob Senderoff, now an assistant at Kent State, face what the NCAA calls a show-cause penalty, which requires schools to get the NCAA infractions committee’s approval of their hire as a coach.