The current situation at Indiana, where
Basketball Head Coach Kelvin Sampson has been placed on a game-by-game tight
rope while the university determines how to handle the media blitz surrounding
violations by the coach and one of his assistants, is an overreaction to a
situation that was sure to surface.
Kelvin Sampson: A Recovering Illegal Recruiter
The current situation at Indiana, where
Basketball Head Coach Kelvin Sampson has been placed on a game-by-game tight
rope while the university determines how to handle the media blitz surrounding
violations by the coach and one of his assistants, is an overreaction to a
situation that was sure to surface.
After making 550 illegal phone
calls to 17 different recruits at Oklahoma, being on the phone during 10
conference calls to recruits over the past two seasons at Indiana, seems like
jay walking. His assistant Rob Senderoff has resigned after making 35 phone
calls in violation of the 2006 NCAA ruling against the Oklahoma staff. I would also consider the
Senderoff violation to be miniscule in comparison to the 550 calls of the
original NCAA violation. They pulled Eric Golden away from Illinois after he
had committed, that’s a sure sign that someone is making a lot of phone calls.
These are great coaches that led
Oklahoma to an average of 25 wins over eight consecutive seasons and have
placed Indiana back on top of the Big 10. Currently Kelvin Sampson is 42-14 at
Indiana with one NCAA appearance and they are on their way to another. To think
that a recovering illegal recruiter could take a head coaching position and not
make phone calls to recruits was a mistake by Indiana that had many scratching
their heads at the time. They could have waited to hire him but Sampson would
not have been available after his one-year probation was over.
They brought in someone with a tainted
past that could win games. Indiana
got who they knew they were hiring. For them to back out now under pressure
from the media and from boosters is an overreaction that I think will go away
given an investigation and probably another one to two year probationary period
for one really good coach who is a little to aggressive on the recruiting
trail.
What others are saying:
KOKOMO TRIBUNE
http://www.mineralwellsindex.com/statenews/cnhinsall_story_051151752.html
EOG.com, Canada
http://www.eog.com/news/full-article.aspx?id=35190
Sporting News
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=355167