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BANNED

2009-07-01 / Sports

Former Indiana coach Sampson barred from college ranks until 2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NCAA is finished with the latest Kelvin Sampson saga.

The NCAA on Tuesday rejected an appeal from the former Indiana basketball coach, who was slapped with five years of potential penalties for taking part in more than 100 impermissible calls to recruits while coaching the Hoosiers.

The NCAA said its infractions committee upheld the violations found in the case, which prompted an overhaul at the storied program and led to Sampson's departure after just 1 1/2 years.

An NCAA spokeswoman said Sampson has used his only appeal, and the case is closed.

Sampson, now an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, is essentially barred from coaching in college until 2013.

The NCAA ruled that Sampson ignored signed compliance agreements with Indiana, ignored the recruiting restrictions he was already under from a similar case at Oklahoma and deliberately lied to infractions committee members.

In his appeal, Sampson claimed the penalty was too harsh, the NCAA misinterpreted evidence and the infractions committee was biased against him.

The NCAA rejected each claim, saying "it found no basis on which to conclude that the findings of violations were contrary to the evidence."

Sampson's new publicist, Chris Capo, said Sampson "will not be making any comment on the recent NCAA ruling." A Bucks spokesman said "Sampson declined comment on the report."

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