I get it, he went around stipulations to make 3 way calls to recruits. Look at todays recruiting environment and realize what Sampson was working against. He wasn't capitalizing on the nonsense like these other REAL cheaters were. We are talking about extra text messages that aren't even a rule anymore and never should have been.
The problem with that entire situation is IU was brought to its knees by the NCAA due to a rule that no longer exists and something that HARDLY benefited Sampson or IU with the phone calls. We were left with 1 walk-on scholarship player and had a MASSIVE black spotlight placed on us unnecessarily. Meanwhile, UNC makes up fake classes to keep kids eligible across many sports and nothing happens. Coaches are paying players and or working around the shoe system to facilitate payments and we see minimal impacts.
We, as IU fans, got shafted by the NCAA and although definitely idiotic on Sampson's part, I don't look at him as this super scandalous college coach. Slick Rick, Bill Self, Scott Drew.....these guys are the real shady ones. Sampson's transgressions have been looked at as equal or worse but that couldn't be further from the truth.