College Basketballs Real Slim Shady
Indiana Basketball Coach Kelvin Sampson is at it again, only this time at another University. Indiana announced recently that, after an internal investigation, Sampson had made some 10 improper/illegal phone calls to recruits and his staff made an additional 35 calls that were deemed improper. As a result Sampson lost a 500k bonus, a scholarship and one of the assistants was banned from getting a raise and recruiting off campus.
My point is, this guy has had a few strikes now and yet he gets a slap on the wrist it seems to me. The same university that let Bobby Knight drag them through the mud is doing it again. Indiana knew about Sampsons past in Oklahoma when he got in trouble for the same stuff, but they still hired him. They had even given him a 1 year suspension from participating in 3 way calls and he broke that.
My favorite part is this line that he was quoted: “We had been dealing with the sanctions from May 25 to May 25. And once it was over, we were under the impression that it was over. We were confident that we had followed the rules.” What he meant was “we were confident that everyone thought we obeyed the rules. Give me a break. When you cross the white line so many times it appears gray and that’s what is going on here.
Indiana’s AD said “the amount of money Sampson won’t receive makes a “strong statement” about how much the coach was willing to cooperate.” Do you think we are stupid? Sampson wants his job. If he comes out and says what really happened he’d be gone. So he says “i didn’t know” and they tell him he’ll miss out on 500k when he’s making a ton of money anyway. The 500k wasn’t a fine, it wasn’t even his money yet at all.
“The rules we broke were mistakes, and we take full responsibility for what happened,” Sampson said. Don’t make me throw up here. Full responsibility apparently doesn’t mean full accountability. The scholarship they lost won’t even hurt them. They had one of the top classes in the country as it was. The guy hurt here is the assistant. I’ll call him the fall guy for what took place. The head coach is responsible in all cases and he dropped the ball. In this case he always drops the ball. One day someone will have the courage to quit giving it to him.
