Andy Katz has an article for ESPN on Kelvin Sampson becoming IU’s new head basketball coach.
“He’s not running from Oklahoma,” [Kelvin’s son] Kellen Sampson said. “He’s running to Indiana. There’s nothing wrong with running to a top five program.”
That’s because this is Indiana, where basketball is king. Sampson had been at football-dominated Oklahoma for a dozen years, reached a Final Four in 2002 (ironically losing to Indiana in the national semifinals in Atlanta) but may have grown tired being in Norman.
So when Indiana called last week, he listened — and listened hard. Multiple sources have told ESPN.com that the Indiana search committee looked at Gonzaga’s Mark Few and Memphis’ John Calipari. There were, according to sources, inquiries into West Virginia’s John Beilein as well. But interest and buyouts prevented any of those conversations going too far. Calls were never made to IU alumni Steve Alford (Iowa) or Randy Wittman (Orlando Magic assistant). Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan said he wouldn’t discuss the search process but said someone on the committee first brought up Sampson’s name.
. . .
“Guys like me don’t get jobs like this,” Kelvin Sampson said. “I was a guy that coached NAIA basketball and was a grad assistant [at Michigan State under Jud Heathcote] and then coached at Washington State before Oklahoma and now Indiana. I’ve had kind of a nondescript college career.”
Two major concerns are Sampson’s NCAA recruiting violations and his low graduation rate. He has apparently been under investigation for violating a rule concerning the permissible number of phone calls to potential recruits, and in 2002 when Davis’s IU team beat Sampson’s Oklahoma team in the national semi-finals, Sampson’s team graduation rate was 0%. Also, the futures of Indiana’s current players, particularly D.J. White and Robert Vaden are uncertain. They might decide they don’t want to play for IU if they’re not playing for Coach Davis.
I’m willing to give him a chance, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how he does. Run a clean program and win some Big Ten titles, and that will keep everybody happy for a while.
Big Ten titles?
The NCAA tournament is all that matters any more.
I think the die hard Hoosier fans would stay happy for awhile on Big Ten titles regardless of what happens in the tournament. At least I would. Not forever, mind you.
I am willing to give him a chance as well. The guy had an impeccable ethics record until the phone call incidents, he had a great one at Oklahoma while only having one NBA first round player and (like Davis) he is a great inspirational story. I hope Indiana fans are patient because if Vaden and White leave this will not happen overnight.