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Perspective on IU and Sampson from a Kentucky fan
Posted Monday, February 25, 2008, at 5:29 PM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
Since I am a Kentucky basketball fan, the firing/resignation of Kelvin Sampson is not something that I have lost any sleep over the last week or so and prior to when all the allegations came to surface once again. But being a sports fan in general, I can't help but be a little alarmed in the way Indiana University handled the situation this time around.
I do however give the university its props for working out a deal with Sampson to buy out his contract for a meager $750,000 and under the circumstances that he will not take any further legal actions against the university. Smart move on the Hoosiers part for doing their homework from that aspect of the whole situation considering that Ohio State is paying former men's basketball coach Jim O'Brien $3 million and Colorado is paying their former head football coach Rick Neuheisel $4.5 million for wrongful termination. But why force Sampson out in the middle of the season, a season in which the team has such high aspirations of winning a Big Ten Conference title and making a deep post-season run in March? If personnel at IU is worried about ruining such a reputable institution, then why did they make the decision to hire Sampson two years ago when he was facing the same allegations at Oklahoma? They knew what type of coach they were receiving at the time when they hired Sampson or at least they should have. With the dismissal of Sampson in the middle of the season, what is the University benefiting? Maybe they think with the dismissal now the NCAA will bring down a lessor penalty on the university if allegations prove to be true at the end of the investigation. But then again the NCAA could take the approach that IU knew they were taking such a high risk to begin with and will impose a stiff penalty still. But lost in the middle of all the allegations and money concern are the student athletes. They are the ones that are suffering the most from all of this. As if trying to focus on carrying the load of school work on top of preparation on competing in the national spotlight two and sometimes three times a week, is not enough, now they have the extra pressure of playing for yet another coach. For some players such as senior D.J. White, interim coach Dan Dakich is the third coach that White has played while at IU. And if being in the midst of a tight race for the Big Ten Conference title and a top three or four seed in the NCAA tournament is not enough, now the players are faced with being bombarded from every media outlet on their take on the whole Sampson situation. Some players are now being criticized for skipping Dakich's first practice Friday night and threatening to sit out the Northwestern game Saturday and possibly the rest of the season if Sampson was no longer head coach. I applaud the players for standing up for their former coach. At the college level, a coach may be the deciding factor on joining the university, and for that person to no longer be there, makes one's decision cloudy and a variety of thoughts on what the best scenario is to take. And lets face it, putting the illegal recruiting tactics aside, Sampson is a top tier coach at the NCAA level, or at least in my opinion. And while this whole situation is still being processed and sorted out, I strongly believe that the NCAA needs to sit down and carefully reconsider some of their rules infractions that they hand down. Why should a coach not be able to contact a recruit via text, or only be able to talk with them during certain times of the year? We live in a world today where most students spend more time using text messaging as a way of communication talking on the phone. And land-line phones are virtually a thing of the past. In my opinion the NCAA needs to focus on more serious violations, like top recruits being paid in some sort of way to come to a university, or scholarship players being "awarded" passing grades for being a star athlete. To sum everything up, I believe IU made a mistake for hiring Sampson in the first place, and yet another mistake for the way they have handled this situation. But being a former scholarship student athlete, my opinion may be a little bias on where the focus really should be. And being a Wildcat fan, I can say good luck, to the Hoosiers with a smile on my face.
Travis David is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached at (812) 847-4487, ext. 20 or at tdavid@gcdailyworld.com Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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Your article made the following statements: "They are the ones that are suffering the most from all of this." "I applaud the players for standing up for their former coach." Spoken like a true Kentuckian. Student-athletes are privileged to participate in collegiate athletics. Young men and women who are receiving a considerably valuable education for free and what do they have to do? Play ball, yes, play ball, playing a kids game at a higher level. Life isn't fair and that is another lesson for these student-athletes, it is a part of their maturation process. There are no guarantees for anyone out there and no one, not even privileged student-athletes, should consider cheating and breaking the rules as a proper character trait to stand up for and admire.
You stated, "And lets face it, putting the illegal recruiting tactics aside,..." It is evident that you don't understand much about ethics. You can't put illegal recruiting tactics aside and maintain character.
You asked the question, "With the dismissal of Sampson in the middle of the season, what is the University benefiting?" The original mistake was made by an inept Athletic Director by hiring Sampson in the first place. You should understand, no matter where you are from, you don't compound a mistake by ignoring it as it explodes in your face.
The difference between us Hoosiers and you Wildcats, is the fact that when we win championships, we do it with pride, character and a clean conscience. If you come into Hoosier Country and make arrogant statements like this, you should expect this kind of principled response.
true Kentuckian???
I am not from Kentucky, just a wildcat fan!
And having played sports my whole life and attended college on an athletic scholarship, I do know a thing or two about being dedicated to a coach, and being able to overlook some things.
and there is a LOT more to being a varisty athlete on scholarship than just "playing a kids game"
people dont understand the pressure of being on a team, preparing for a game or match or whatever, and trying to maintain a high GPA and also have a outside of the lecture hall and gymnasium.
Im not saying what Sampson did was right, im just looking at it from a student-athlete's point of view as well.
and are you claiming that Kentcuky does not take pride and character into winning?????
and my statements were not arrogant in any way, and I do appreciate your response, thats why we allow comments on here.
When you write about "being able to overlook some things.", that is indicative of the lack of good character that I'm referring to in my post. Regardless of your time spent as a student-athlete, you should be able to recognize now, at your age, that these athletes need to learn that cheating is something that shouldn't be supported. Keep in mind, no one is forcing these student-athletes to play this game, that is their choice and it is, as I said before, just a game.
As far as Kentucky is concerned, they proved their worth last year when they ran out a winning coach, who didn't win enough. They didn't feel like Tubby Smith recruited well enough. The same Tubby who won an NCAA Championship, 5 regular season SEC championships, 5 SEC Tournament championships, 6 trips to the Sweet Sixteen and 4 to the Elite 8, in 10 years. But he didn't recruit well enough and most of all he didn't win enough, so he left under pressure.
It's a shame UK didn't get Sampson, he was a top recruiter and I'm sure he would have allowed very little to stand in his way to prevent him from winning.
I think it is kind of funny how they never had any problem like this with Bob Knight. No NCAA violations and a near 100% graduation rate are what they lost when they fired him for trivial reasons. If the NCAA really wants to curtail this unethical behavior they should require clauses in coaching contracts that eliminate the need to pay them off to fire them when they break the rules. Coach Knight may have had a temper but he set a higher standard for his program and his players.
There was a clause in Sampson's contract that said he could be fired without any financial considerations if he broke any rules. IU paid him to resign. I hated that they did that, but in the long run I think it was better for them to take that approach just to be done with the whole thing.
I.U. gave a dirty coach a second chance, and it blew up in their face. Ethically they had no choice in this situation, fire a habitual cheater.
I hate the fact that litigation or the threat of litigation seems to govern the land these days. When giving a person 750K to leave a situation that he knowingly created seems equitable, our society is messed up. And yes I think IU saved money by doing things the way they did, as screwed up as that is, I think they handled this as financially responsibly as they could.
Side Note: litigation or the threat of has created much of the financial crisis we are into today, in my opinion.
For every 70$ office visit you make to your doc, 20$ goes to pay for malpractice insurance, 5$ goes to his lawyer, a few bucks to the guy who cleans the snow off the walk so nobody slips, falls and sues, etc... you see my point. Nobody will shed a tear for the money that docs make, but I for one feel that they deserve more for my bodys maintenance, than some liability insurance agent, or ambulance chasing lawyer deserves. Thanks for letting me vent that, I feel better now. Living in such a litigious society, makes me kinda sick, a lot of people want money for nothin.
That in a nutshell is why I think the University handled the firing the way that they did. Overlooking "some of the things" that Sampson did is impossible. One cannot be ethically selective, choosing when something is appropriate, it is absolute. The person entrusted to not only teach those KIDS basketball was also teaching them about life, and what kind of lesson would this be, that cheating(repeatedly) is okay?
I am also a Knight fan, and ALYHAB i agree with most of what you said, but I also am not sure he was fired for trivial things.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about what has transpired these past few weeks in Bloomington. But like you Travis, I will not lose any sleep over this. It is still a kids game, played by some great, albeit pampered, athletes. Life will go on.
"Bull fighting, auto racing, and mountain climbing are the only true sports, the rest are merely childs games." Ernest Hemingway
Very good Rambler. A response with such stylish prose makes me proud. Having "litigious" collide with "kinda" and "nothin" in the same sentence is reminiscent of the late Hunter Thompson. But unlike the author of this article, you will not lose any sleep for the reason that it is still a kids game, he will not because he is a Wildcat fan. He just might be the only person on Earth who is not from Kentucky, but is a Wildcat fan.
The point was that these young men felt allegiance to their former coach(and upset about Dakich being picked over McCallum). Is Sampson worth that respect? Maybe not, but he was a central figure in these young men's lives.
From everything I've read and heard...Greenspan wanted Kevin Stallings from Vanderbilt. He was overidden by the president and some boosters.
Midnightrambler... I'm not sure what insurance has to do with IU basketball, but I'll bite. For every ambulance chasing lawyer and sue happy person....there are people who are getting screwed by the insurance companies. Without someone to fight the holy insurance companies...someone dear to me would no longer be here.
Basketball or any other sport may be a "kids game", but those "kids" make a lot of money for their university, and what do they get out of it????
they get a college education free of charge for the most part YES, but also they get publicly criticized for having an off night here or there, having their integrity judged for showing loyalty for someone who was a major reason for choosing the university or staying there after previous turmoils have risen. and another thing that most people are not aware of, varsity athletes most often times are not allowed to have jobs outside of campus in fear of violating yet another bogus NCAA rule, but yet basketball players can see their jerseys on display in malls and sport shops being sold.
but yet this is just a "kids game" and they are not allowed to have any feelings on what is going on inside their basketball "family"
im sure that if someone in your family was to commit an infraction of the law that you wouldn't just leave their side and show them no support. loyalty is not saying that you believe what they did wrong is right or should be accepted, loyalty is showing that person that they have touched your life in such a way that you will be there for support!
and since when do you have to be from a certain geographical location to be a fan of that team???
You ask, "what do they get out of it????" and yet you claim to have been a student-athlete. I would have thought that you would have known what they get out of it. They get the pleasure to continue playing on at a higher level in their sport of choice. They get to learn from college level coaches. They get to travel, to compete, to make new friends, and basically, to enjoy being a student-athlete. If someone doesn't enjoy that, then they can quit, because it is their choice. Anyone who has ever played a game or participated in a sport and has fallen in love with the competition, will continue on playing to their highest level of competency, as long as they enjoy it and as long as they are capable.
I played basketball and baseball until an injury forced me to quit. But I enjoyed it, I loved it. Tough, yes, but it was my choice and had I not broken my ankle, I would have continued on until I was forced to quit for some other reason. Student-athletes have tougher times than most students because of the practises, the games, the travel, the missed classes and everything else that is necessary to play the game. And those four words are the key words to this entire discussion; "to play the game". If you really want to play the game, you accept the hardships that go with it, no one is holding a gun to your head making you play this game, it is your decision.
You can root for any team you want. I can guarantee you that we won't lose any sleep over that.
Sounds like Simmons and TDavid have somewhat of a squabble going on here. Must be differences in opinion since they are hated rivals in basketball.
The moral to the whole saga is IU corrected their problem they started with.
And the players have every right to be upset with the whole situation at the beginning and ended up making the right choice before it was blown way out of context.
Good to see some fire out of the new guy in town though, hang in there, looks like you are doing a fine job.
No squabble at all, just a simple disagreement. The players made a choice to play, they could have quit, it was their choice.
I want Bob Knight back!! Bring that g_d d_mn, m_ther f_in',son of a b_itch, back to us here in Indiana. I plead and beg for the basketball gods to have mercy apon us and bring back what we have lost.
O the agony....watching him on espn is great,but it is almost torturous.
We miss you Bob. You can poach on my property any day, here is a hundred bucks and take my wife: just come back.
We are so sorry...
It is impossible to describe what Indiana basketball has meant to our family over the years, but the following video kinda sums it all up.
I still cry when I watch it and I have seen it dozens of times.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...
That picture of bob at 3:26...he looks so young. They all look so young..I must be getting old.
They really dominated in the 70's and 80's. I.U. had the greatest college ball team of all time. We were what UNC DUKE or whoever is now: top of the class. Heck we were better..the only one close are UCLA. They had stars, we had teams.
We so took winning for granted. It is incredibly hard to do...
Knight County,Indiana. It has a ring to it...Who was this Monroe guy anyway. He did not win no titles!
..of course there would be special hunting laws.
Lifetime free Golf! c;mon BOB your killin me here...
Hey I watched that tyler zellar kid play on espn last night. I thought he did a great job.
Its to bad he is not going to I.U. As a matter of fact I do not think any of the kids in that mcdonalds game are going to college in Bloomington.
I guess I will have to root for the soccer team over there: NOT. This is just how the secular-progressives want it. Out with basketball in with futball,yuk!
So we get a new coach by Thursday? Any thought on who it will be?
I heard that dude from Tennessee might get it.
My list would be:
-The General (of course)
-Phil Jackson
-Rick Pitino
o..but that reminds me of bob's old feud with the mayor of louisville. Would not that be nice...Never Happen!
pitino may have traded his Kentucky blue for Louisville red but he will NEVER be in IU crimson!
I hear we got the guy from marquette. I have no clue about him. Is there any links you could share?
This years final four looks awesome. It could look better, but this should be a good set of ball games.
creen is a really good coach and a very respectable one as well, should be a good hire for the hoosiers.......