My take on Kelvin Sampson
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:34 pm
My initial reaction when I heard of the new allegations against Kelvin the other day, I thought "wow, what the fuck was Indiana hiring a piece of crap like that." Is anyone really surprised Indiana finds themselves in this predicament? They had to know this day would eventually come once they hired the guy.
But with all that said, is what Kelvin Sampson did really all that bad or is this overblown? Personally, I think this is way overblown and Sampson's problem isn't that he's violating NCAA rules, it's the fact that he didn't go on the down-low for a couple of years after committing violations at OU. Once a guy gets caught, the NCAA pays attention to your every move. Just ask Jim Harrick, Jerry Tarkanian, and Lou Holtz. So Kelvin should have gone clean for a couple of years while the NCAA is watching his every move, and then showed them he's changed his ways and then once they're off his backs he could go back to his old form.
I am in no way advocating cheating, I'm just saying what Kelvin did really isn't any worse that what a good percentage of college basketball coaches do. D-1 College hoops is a fucking cesspool. Making a bunch of extra phone calls and lying/misleading the NCAA isn't half as bad as what many other coaches do. Take Coach K for example. For those of you that actually think this guy is clean.......I got some land I want to sell you. I know for a fact this guy cheats. Those summer Nike camps.....coaches aren't allowed to speak to the recruits at these camps but it''s well known that K doesn't follow these rules. Everyone remember Nueheisel's "chance encounter"? Well, let's just say I know people that have personally seen Coach K have one of these "chance encounters" at a restaurant before. The dirtiest coach in college basketball is Coach K. The guy can get away with anything and he knows it. The problem is, Kelvin got busted at Oklahoma. Oklahoma is a nice basketball program, but it's more of a football school. They aren't making the NCAA the kind of money Duke is. A coach at a program like OU can't get away with the stuff a coach at a program like Duke can. And once a coach gets busted, the NCAA will follow his every move regardless of where he goes. Had Kelvin never been caught at Oklahoma, and then started this crap at Indiana we're not having this discussion because the only way they'll ever go after an Indiana basketball coach is if they hire a guy that got busted at another school. Once you're caught, you gotta go on the down-low for a while. Kelvin has got to be smarter than that.
Take Lou Henson at Illinois for example. Guy buys Deon Thomas an SUV back in the late 1980's and Bruce Pearl has proof of that on a tape (yeah, I know Illannoy fan, it's an altered tape.....RRRIIIIIIIIGGGGGHHHTTT!!), and gets a slap on the wrist. He goes on the down-low after that and the NCAA lays off of him. Now, take Jim Harrick as another example. Dude commits violations everywhere he goes and can't last very long at any job because he can't stop cheating. Had he just stayed clean for a couple of years at UCLA he would have been fine. Heck, he might still be the coach there right now. We know the guy could coach, but when the NCAA was on his back he still insisted on cheating. That's the mistake Kelvin has made.
The person that is in the wrong here the most is Rick Greenspan. Dude, what the fuck were you thinking hiring a guy that you knew the NCAA was paying a lot of attention to? We're talking about an Indiana program that's always stayed clean and the only way that would change is if they brought in a guy like Kelvin Sampson. I know they had a few guys turn the job down a couple of years ago and Greenspan absolutely refused to hire Steve Alford, but I think had they been a little more patient they could have found a clean coach that is as good of a coach as Sampson is. I really find it hard to believe they had so much trouble finding a coach that they had to take a major risk like this. The problem is not Kelvin Sampson, the problem is Rick Greenspan. This is all on him.
But with all that said, is what Kelvin Sampson did really all that bad or is this overblown? Personally, I think this is way overblown and Sampson's problem isn't that he's violating NCAA rules, it's the fact that he didn't go on the down-low for a couple of years after committing violations at OU. Once a guy gets caught, the NCAA pays attention to your every move. Just ask Jim Harrick, Jerry Tarkanian, and Lou Holtz. So Kelvin should have gone clean for a couple of years while the NCAA is watching his every move, and then showed them he's changed his ways and then once they're off his backs he could go back to his old form.
I am in no way advocating cheating, I'm just saying what Kelvin did really isn't any worse that what a good percentage of college basketball coaches do. D-1 College hoops is a fucking cesspool. Making a bunch of extra phone calls and lying/misleading the NCAA isn't half as bad as what many other coaches do. Take Coach K for example. For those of you that actually think this guy is clean.......I got some land I want to sell you. I know for a fact this guy cheats. Those summer Nike camps.....coaches aren't allowed to speak to the recruits at these camps but it''s well known that K doesn't follow these rules. Everyone remember Nueheisel's "chance encounter"? Well, let's just say I know people that have personally seen Coach K have one of these "chance encounters" at a restaurant before. The dirtiest coach in college basketball is Coach K. The guy can get away with anything and he knows it. The problem is, Kelvin got busted at Oklahoma. Oklahoma is a nice basketball program, but it's more of a football school. They aren't making the NCAA the kind of money Duke is. A coach at a program like OU can't get away with the stuff a coach at a program like Duke can. And once a coach gets busted, the NCAA will follow his every move regardless of where he goes. Had Kelvin never been caught at Oklahoma, and then started this crap at Indiana we're not having this discussion because the only way they'll ever go after an Indiana basketball coach is if they hire a guy that got busted at another school. Once you're caught, you gotta go on the down-low for a while. Kelvin has got to be smarter than that.
Take Lou Henson at Illinois for example. Guy buys Deon Thomas an SUV back in the late 1980's and Bruce Pearl has proof of that on a tape (yeah, I know Illannoy fan, it's an altered tape.....RRRIIIIIIIIGGGGGHHHTTT!!), and gets a slap on the wrist. He goes on the down-low after that and the NCAA lays off of him. Now, take Jim Harrick as another example. Dude commits violations everywhere he goes and can't last very long at any job because he can't stop cheating. Had he just stayed clean for a couple of years at UCLA he would have been fine. Heck, he might still be the coach there right now. We know the guy could coach, but when the NCAA was on his back he still insisted on cheating. That's the mistake Kelvin has made.
The person that is in the wrong here the most is Rick Greenspan. Dude, what the fuck were you thinking hiring a guy that you knew the NCAA was paying a lot of attention to? We're talking about an Indiana program that's always stayed clean and the only way that would change is if they brought in a guy like Kelvin Sampson. I know they had a few guys turn the job down a couple of years ago and Greenspan absolutely refused to hire Steve Alford, but I think had they been a little more patient they could have found a clean coach that is as good of a coach as Sampson is. I really find it hard to believe they had so much trouble finding a coach that they had to take a major risk like this. The problem is not Kelvin Sampson, the problem is Rick Greenspan. This is all on him.