I've been dreading wanting to write something about Kelvin Sampson and his cheating and (now lying) ways, but I'm so stung by the debacle that I fear I'll embark on a fiery rant, laden with expletives and inflammatory rhetoric. I reserve right to do that at any time (don't tell me my business), but I'm going to try to remain cool and detached for this post.
Really, John Gasaway has the most eloquently written post on the matter.
To me, it's clear that Sampson won't resign even though in all likelihood he's out of a job by June. Whether they suspend him while due process runs its course, or whether they fire him outright and risk the legal proceedings... he's done. There is no chance he'll be vindicated in the following months. Is the end of the line for his coaching career? Probably, which is why I think he will fight to the end. What program would invite this mess into their athletics department? He left a mess for Oklahoma. He's leaving a fine mess for Indiana. That said, he does have good coaching chops, and maybe someday some nowhere school decides the exposure is worth the gambit. My money says he's persona non grata.
More important to me is that the fallout from this should also be felt at the top. Athletic Director Rick Greenspan knowingly brought this blight into our historically clean program. Hoosier fans take great pride in a clean program... nary a major violation since 1960. (and recall the scandal that ensued when Alford posed for a charity calendar?) Now Indiana is looking at five major violations.
Sampson wasn't exactly on double-secret probation when he was hired. He was awaiting a judgment from the NCAA on impermissible recruiting calls while at Oklahoma, and whether or not sanctions would follow him to Indiana. He was radioactive when he was hired.
Pat Forde nailed it in March 2006 when he said "for the next few years, the temperature is going to be 1,000 degrees Kelvin under the chair of Indiana athletic directory Rick Greenspan." Foolishly, Greenspan has taken the university's flagship sport and invited disgrace into it. This debacle is as much his doing, as it is Sampson's. He should tender his resignation.
Lastly, I've read ridiculous notions that with Bob Knight's abrupt resignation from Texas Tech that he could be interested in the Indiana job. No chance. It's well-past time to move on.
4 comments:
Yes! And we don't want Alford either. What has he done lately.
Totally agree with all said. And, as someone who investigates employee wrongdoing for a living, I am amazed that there is not more flak over the choice of Greenspan to handle the current investigation! Considering 1. the possibility of Greenspan's own culpability, 2. the possibility of the culpability of others who report to Greenspan and who he may wish to keep, and 3. the possibility that Greenspan's own employment might be affected by his indictment of Sampson, Greenspan should be --- HELLO!! --- NOWHERE NEAR this investigation! Not to mention that I seem to recall him making comments about all the careful scrutiny he had given Sampson before bringing him to IU -- "exhaustive" scrutiny or something similar. So even if he has the requisite detachment, I don't think he has the requisite competence. I am really disgusted.
FWIW, I've read some accounts that suggest Greenspan didn't want to hire Sampson, that it was former president Adam Herbert who made that call. I don't know if those accounts are true, but the big hug Sampson and Herbert shared after the MSU game at least indicates that there's a bond between them. If it's true that Greenspan didn't make that call, then I can see why he wouldn't be held accountable for the current fine mess.
AHHH... I had never heard that. But that would definitely explain a lot..... And add to Herbert's bad rep
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