By DAVE KITCHELL
Tribune columnist
February 23, 2008 10:47 pm
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I’m here this morning to dispel the rumor that flights into Indianapolis this week were diverted because of the cloudy stench that originated in Bloomington and spread over our entire state by Friday.
Only now, as Kelvin Sampson has coached his final game and is no longer part of the Indiana University basketball program, is some sense of normalcy returning to Indiana.
It’s over. The air is beginning to clear,
The man rewarded with the richest coaching contract ever at Indiana University — the state’s highest paid employee — is gone. Like a modern day carpetbagger, he took Hoosier money coming and going, leaving fans in a state of shock; the IU basketball program in a state of disrepair.
Ahhhh Kelvin, we hardly knew you.
What we did know about the man were two undeniable facts (1) he lived to talk on the phone with recruits and (2) he didn’t seem to care that the NCAA has rules governing the frequency of such chit-chat.
He left the University of Oklahoma after making 577 impermissible phone calls and when he was hired at Indiana in March of 2006, promised to do better.
And he lived up to his pledge.
In October a university investigation found that Sampson and his staff had again made the impermissible calls, but true to his word, Sampson had done better. The number was only a hundred or so.
Of course there was more slime under the rock and last week the NCAA released a report that said Sampson had lied to university and NCAA officials. Finally, it seemed, the last straw.
It’s incomprehensible that Sampson was paid $750,000 to pack up, but it’s a fact. I’m all for a fair trial and when Sampson originally said he welcomed the opportunity to tell his side of the story, I thought that was fair. But when Sampson basically pleaded “no contest” Friday, took his money and bolted for the border, he made it pretty obvious that he hadn’t the reason or the will to stay and fight for the five years remaining on his 7-year, $7.3 million contract.
When the latest allegations hit, IU had few options. It could hold its ground, keep Sampson on the bench, and fight the NCAA. Based on Sampson’s choice to take the money and run, we know how that would have gone. It could have placed Sampson on paid leave, finished the season and then dealt with the problems in the spring. This was an option full of potential problems.
What happened was Indiana offered Sampson a way out — his resignation and a fat parting gift with the promise he wouldn’t drag IU through the courts, ala three former Big Ten coaches — IU’s Bob Knight, Ohio State’s Jim O’Brien and Minnesota’s Clem Haskins. As painful as the solution was, it was the only way out.
Of course those hurt most in this whole mess are the players. I feel badly that while on the cusp of possibly winning a Big Ten championship and going deep into the NCAA Tournament that they’ve taken the hit.
I feel badly too that the team is divided by the decision of moving former Hoosier Dan Dakich into the role of interim coach, rather than Ray McCallum, who has been with the current players for two seasons compared to Dakich’s one.
I understand employees don’t choose their boss and players don’t pick their coach. However in this situation, it would have seemed wise on the part of Athletic Director Rick Greenspan if he would have sought the input of IU’s seniors before making the choice of interim coach
Where Indiana’s program goes from here is anyone’s guess. That Sampson is no longer in the program can’t hurt. Still Indiana deserves the wrath it will feel from the NCAA sanctions committee.
In my mind the next move is to replace Greenspan. After all, Sampson was his coach and it was under Greenspan’s watch that the NCAA will sanction Indiana for the first time in nearly a half-century. IU fans can’t trust his judgment.
What should then follow in an efficient yet speedy manner is perhaps the most crucial hire in the history of Indiana athletics. IU must find a man with the necessary coaching talents, yet one who is also squeaky-clean. He will need to convince young members of the Hoosier squad to stay in Bloomington — not to transfer — and somehow clean up the carnage and reunite the splinter groups that have existed since Bob Knight’s departure.
Sampson skates away from the cesspool he created. He likely won’t coach a top Division I program again, but he’ll soon be on the bench of some NBA team.
Down deep in his soul, Sampson has to know because of his own actions, he just lost his dream job. I don’t think he meant to hurt and disappoint those close to the Indiana basketball program, he just didn’t care enough to prevent it from happening.
Indiana basketball should never have to “settle” for a coach as it did 23 months ago. This can’t happen again.
Dave Kitchell is the Kokomo Tribune sports editor. He may be reached by e-mail at dave.kitchell@kokomotribune.com.
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