Well, one could say that the University of Indiana asked for this. I mean, after all, when they hired Kelvin Sampson to be their head coach he was having troubles with a NCAA investigation about impermissible phone calls. Frankly, if you are looking for a new girlfriend that won't cheat on you, you do not start by attempting to get one to cheat on her current man to be with you.
Now the Indiana faithful have to determine what truly matters to them. Do they want the possible tournament wins that this team and coach could bring them or do they want to disassociate themselves from a man that is now deemed to be a massive cheater? The simple way to handle this would be to suspend Sampson pending the results of their own internal investigation. However, the simple way is usually never taken when big money is on the line. Do not forget that each round of the NCAA tournament is worth more than one quarter of a million dollars to the advancing school in pure revenue alone. The administration at Indiana may simply keep Sampson and say to the world, "Innocent until proven guilty". To do this however, when their own preliminary investigation from a few months ago showed that he had violatedNCAA rules, would show them to be hypocritical from the world view that most of their fans and supporters have taken for years.
"Hypocritical?" you ask. Yes, hypocritical I say. I have heard what the fans of the red nation have said about Illinois when Lou Henson was coach. I have seen the sneers from numerous hoosiers when looking at Michigan and its fab five. I have felt the vitriol directed toward the southern neighbors in Kentucky for their heathen cheating ways. Now that the birds have come home to roost, I am quite interested in seeing what happens and how this is handled. From the way things stand now, it appears that what to do is not so easy to decide when you have a top 15 team and your best players will be gone at the end of the season. Yes, I am quite interested in seeing what happens at Indiana.
1 comment:
Obviously, they have to fire him. If they don't, you and I will have grandchildren before they get to play in an NCAA event again. Also, they've been tooting their horn for years about their lack of NCAA violations. This is what comes of hiring a guy who has a proven track record as a cheater and then not firing him the first time he cheats. You'd think he'd have learned his lesson at Oklahoma, but apparently not. You'd have for sure thought he'd learned it after IU docked him half a mill, but, again, apparently not. He has to go if Indiana is going to maintain a shred of dignity or integrity. And while they're at it, the AD who hired him better get his walking papers, as well.
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