Kelvin Sampson Reax: Why Wasn’t He Fired, Why Did He Get A Settlement, And What’s With The Player Boycott?
No quick-hitters tonight. On to the topic at hand:
I really didn’t feel like blogging tonight, but after the announcement came that Kelvin Sampson was relieved of his duties as Indiana’s Men’s Basketball coach, I just had to blog about this.
(Note: Everything I’m going to talk about below will be written under the assumption that Sampson is, indeed, guilty of recruiting violations.)
1) Can someone explain to me why Sampson was not fired? The guy was caught cheating (and you’re going to hear that repeated often in this space), and he was allowed to resign??? Indiana might try to convince people that Sampson was bought-out, but check out his statement, paying special attention to the parts in bold:
“I have made the very difficult decision to leave my position as head coach of the men’s basketball team at Indiana University,” Sampson said in a statement. “While I’m saddened that I won’t have the opportunity to continue to coach these student-athletes, I feel that it is in the best interest of the program to step aside at this time.”
(Never mind the fact that this decision couldn’t have been that difficult; he sullied the name of a proud university, possibly ended his coaching career [though that’s not likely; some I-AA team will probably sign him to a contract in the near future], and did I mention he was caught cheating?)
As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, Sampson should have been fired once the NCAA released their report of additional recruitment violations.
2) The guy got caught cheating, and yet he was paid $750,000 to go away???
(Tangent: That’s three now.)
Keith Van Horn getting paid $4 million to board a plane headed for New Jersey thinks Kelvin Sampson got a ton of money.
Seriously, the guy got busted for a rules violation for which he had been reprimanded before, and yet the university thought it would be best to pay him to go away? I understand that one motivating factor for the buyout was the agreement that Sampson could not sue the university for wrongful termination, but on what grounds would he have a case? Was he going to convince a judge that he was wrongfully terminated for breaking the rules? That would be the equivalent of a student suing a university for throwing him out after he got caught cheating on a midterm! Wrongful termination? The students should be allowed to sue Sampson for being a horrible role model.
Speaking of the students…
3) I understand that the students looked up to Sampson. I understand that they love the guy, in part because he was a heck of a coach. So when it was announced that Sampson resigned, I could sorta understand why the students would express their frustration by boycotting a practice (and possibly a game?). However, the students do realize that you’re supporting a two-time cheater, right? For two years, he was a leader of men, supposedly setting an example for them, yet knowing full well that he was breaking the rules a second time! Despite that, the students want to support him? He betrayed your trust and loyalty, for crying out loud!
I understand that kids 18-22 can be very impressionable (not that I’m that far out of that age range), but if my coach/leader was caught cheating, I would be extremely frustrated…at him, not the administration! And should some of the students actually boycott a game or more, that is going to affect all of the wrong people: the administration, the university, and most importantly, the students themselves.
What really sucks is that this entire ordeal is probably going to overshadow the huge #1 v #2 match up tomorrow between Memphis and Tennessee.
Until next time.