Hate to say I told you so
Well, it’s official. Kelvin Sampson is out as head coach at Indiana. He took a $750,000 buyout and resigned on Friday. He was replaced on an interim basis by assistant Dan Dakich.
Sampson’s exit stemmed from an NCAA report that cited he made improper phone calls to high school players, then providing false and misleading information to investigators from both the university and the NCAA.
One important note, Sampson told the NCAA during a Nov. 13 interview that he was unaware he was participating in three-way calls with former IU assistant coach Rob Senderoff and prospects or their parents. He also said he never spoke to recruits during impermissible periods, and he never spoke with a prospect on a phone call in which Senderoff spoke as well.
Sampson also told the NCAA he had never spoken with William Buford. The NCAA, however, found that Sampson had spoken with Senderoff and Buford during a June 16, 2006 phone call.
Buford, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Toledo, verbally committed to Ohio State on Oct. 31, 2006, and he submitted his National Letter of Intent to Matta during the early signing period back in November.
It seems that the Hoosier faithful are quite enamored in the fact of having current Ohio State head coach Thad Matta in Bloomington, but given the fact that he’s paid quite well and the talent he will have coming back next season, I tend to think he’ll stay put. Besides, after Matta pull Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. out of the state of Indiana, Hoosier fans called him a cheater. Maybe Matta will keep that in mind when OSU takes on IU, Tuesday night.
This is an article I wrote back on Oct. 31, 2006, as I was previewing the Indiana Hoosiers basketball team and their new coach.
Exit, Mike Davis.
Enter, former Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson.
When it appeared that Davis’ days in Bloomington were numbered last season, many thought the next Hoosiers’ coach might be former IU players Steve Alford or Randy Wittman.
On March 29, Sampson was named head coach at Indiana replacing Davis, who resigned.
With the hiring of the Sampson, the Bob Knight era is officially over, but it also raised some eyebrows.
Sampson and the Oklahoma basketball program were under an NCAA investigation for their recruiting practices at the time of his hire. The accusations against Oklahoma include “lack of institutional control,” one of the NCAA’s most serious findings.
Last May, the NCAA banned the Hoosiers’ new coach from calling recruits and making off-campus visits for a year, ruling Sampson and his staff at Oklahoma deliberately broke NCAA rules by making 577 extra phone calls to basketball prospects.
The decision, announced by the NCAA’s infractions committee, also requires Indiana to adopt self-imposed restrictions put in place by Oklahoma. Those sanctions include a ban on Sampson being paid performance bonuses for next season, but Indiana will suffer no scholarship penalties.
Sampson has some talent at IU to begin his first season, but it seems that he’s already on the “hot seat” before the Hoosiers have even played a game and Sampson can’t afford one slight mistake.
I realize that some of the bigger names pulled out of consideration for the IU job, like Marquette’s Tom Crean and Gonzaga’s Mark Few, but why take a chance on a known cheater. I hope IU’s can brace itself years down the road if Sampson is found guilty of infractions again.
Hmm, I see was quite prophetic.
Hmm, it seems that Penn State is turning into the State Pen, and PSU players are very much in the public eye as defensive tackle Phil Taylor and receiver Chris Bell, who were mentioned in a criminal complaint last October related to a fight in which one man was beat up and treated at the scene, were kicked off the team.
