What is Indiana University's Kelvin Sampson Thinking?

What on Earth is Kelvin Sampson thinking? Sampson, the head coach for Indiana University's basketball team, is officially either the unluckiest guy on Earth or the stupidest.

It recently came out that Kelvin Sampson was investigated by NCAA officials and apparently he came out on the wrong end of the investigation. The NCAA claims that Sampson committed five violations with his basketball recruiting methods.

As many of you know, Sampson also violated NCAA regulations while recruiting for the Oklahoma Sooners basketball team just a few years ago. The violations he committed at Oklahoma involved calling students more than the allotted number of times allowed and at non-permissible times during the year. Those actions caused Sampson to suffer recruiting sanctions that meant he couldn't recruit to full extent that every other coach was allowed to since the NCAA would pull back the number of times he was allowed to contact potential student-athletes. Sampson's actions, coupled with those sanctions, cost him his job at Oklahoma.

Sampson, however, was quickly and surprisingly hired by Indiana almost immediately following his departure from Oklahoma in March of 2006. But despite being hit with sanctions, publicly reprimanded, and denied a $500,000 bonus that he was entitled to, Sampson appears to have violated the recruiting regulations yet again.

The NCAA has accused Sampson, and certain members of his staff, of failing to comply with sanctions imposed on him as a result of his impermissible recruiting calls at Oklahoma. Those members of his staff are alleged to have participated in calls with Sampson by an excess of 100 calls over the sanction limits imposed. On top of that, even without the sanction limits, the NCAA alleges that those staff members placed at least 25 calls to 9 potential recruits that went over the standard limits for all coaches. They also allege that Sampson knowingly did all of this, in addition to contacting a recruit outside of NCAA recruiting regulations and one of his staff members providing gifts (although meager) to that recruit.

That said, Sampson denies that he knowingly "acted contrary to the sanctions that occurred" while he was at Oklahoma.

It seems ridiculous that Sampson would get involved in violating recruiting rules once again. You would think that because he got caught once, he would understand that it is very plausible that he could be caught again. Then again, these are all allegations, but the NCAA would have to be foolish to accuse Sampson of making impermissible calls without having a detailed record of his phone conversations. And the fact that they have attached an approximation to the number of impermissible calls he has made (100) to a specific time period (March 2006 to July 2007) tells me that they do indeed have phone records that can put Kelvin Sampson in his place if he chooses to fight the allegations.