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[50's PONY]

Sampson: OSU turned us in

By George Schroeder and Mike Baldwin
The Oklahoman

NORMAN - Bedlam extended into the NCAA’s investigation of the Oklahoma basketball program.
Reynolds asks out of letter of intent

Former Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson told NCAA investigators that Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton once called out Sampson for the actions of an assistant coach. And Sampson said he first had an inkling his program was under NCAA investigation when recruits said OSU coaches had told them that.

“Every kid that we were recruiting... Oklahoma State told them that we were going to be banned from this or put on probation for that if we were getting investigated,” Sampson told NCAA investigators during the second of four interviews. “Every kid that we recruited, they had told them that.”

Sampson said he heard similar stories from recruits over the course of several years. The NCAA investigation began in 2001; OU did not receive the official notice of inquiry until May 2004.

Sampson, who took the Indiana job last month, is scheduled along with OU officials to meet with the NCAA committee on infractions committee on Friday in Park City, Utah. There, they will be questioned about allegations of more than 550 impermissible telephone calls to 17 recruits from 2000-04. According to transcripts of interviews obtained under terms of the state’s open records law, Sampson said Sutton approached him in an airport and informed him that then-assistant Ray Lopes had made an improper phone call to speak to juniors in a hotel room during a summer tournament.

Sampson also said then-SMU coach Mike Dement had informed him of a rules violation involving then-OU assistant Jim Shaw.

Eddie Sutton, who has taken a leave of absence while facing DUI charges related to a car accident, was not available for comment. But his son, OSU interim coach Sean Sutton, acknowledged his father’s conversation with Sampson.

“We had some concerns what was going on with some phone calls that had been going on during the summer,” Sean Sutton said Wednesday. “I know my dad had a conversation with Kelvin to address those concerns. We were told Kelvin was not aware of those things taking place, that he would address it and it would not be an issue in the future.”

Although Sampson said Eddie Sutton approached him only once, he said “Oklahoma State turned us in on a bunch of stuff, I know that.’ And he said OSU coaches routinely engaged in “negative recruiting” against OU, saying among other things, they told recruits OU was a football school and OSU was a basketball school.

Sean Sutton declined comment when asked if OSU turned OU in to the NCAA. He denied OSU coaches told recruits OU was going on probation - “We never said that,” he said - and said the OSU staff had not engaged in negative recruiting.

“That is not true,” Sean Sutton said. “One thing we believe in very strongly is we do not negative-recruit people. We have one of the best places in the country to go to school to play basketball... We never spend time downgrading other schools.”

Sean Sutton did say OSU sometimes would “show a recruit the facts.”

“But it’s more a positive about your school than a negative about another school,” Sean Sutton said. “When you have one of the best arenas in the country, win championships and have players in the NBA and good graduation rates, you want to showcase those things compared to other schools.”

Sampson told investigators OU coaches did not negatively recruit. And he said OSU was the only school that consistently negatively recruited.

“It’s only one school,” Sampson said. “It’s never Kansas. It’s never ... Texas ... O-State was the only one. The only thing I surmised out of that, well, who knows with them people.

[EastStang]

Oh great, Dement gave Sampson a heads up that Shaw was breaking the rules. No wonder the NCAA will put us under the microscope. They'll probably find Dement and Tubbs violations and throw the book at us and then OU a parking ticket.

[mr. pony]

You got THAT right.