Kelvin Sampson at the AT&T Center

Kelvin Sampson has a new gig, sort of, according to the Indy Star. He is an observer of the San Antonio Spurs and was invited by their coach Gregg Popovich. It is not clear where this is leading, but after the NCAA violations at Indiana, his options are probably limited to the NBA. It's definitely fitting that the Spurs play at the AT&T Center, given Sampson's historic support of AT&T long distance. Or was he using Verizon cell service?

Kelvin Sampson already has a new job

I just noticed this, so thought I would post a link to the story about Kelvin Sampson's new job. Link

Sampson's Gone, Took $750,000 to Leave

Well, the saga of Kelvin Sampson is now over for IU and Illinois. Kelvin agreed to resign for the amount of $750,000 and releasing IU from further liability under Sampson's employment contract. This was apparently a concern after OSU lost its court battle with it's former Coach Jim O'Brien, paying out millions despite causing issues for the basketball program. Reports say that an anonymous donor contributed $550,000 of the settlement amount, which seems strange to me. Why does a major university need a donor to come in to close a settlement with an employee? Bizarre.

Dan Dakich is the new coach, some players are threatening to boycott the Northwestern game today, and life goes on for Eric Gordon and the IU basketball team. At least Illini fans won't have to worry about its coach not shaking hands with opposing coaches any longer.

Dead Man Talking, Or Transcripts from a Serial Caller

Patrick Hruby of ESPN.com has uncovered some unbelievable transcripts of Kelvin Sampson's actual phone calls to Ebanks, a top Indiana basketball recruit. Read them here.

Now, before I get hundreds of obscene comments from Hoosier fans, I want to point out a few things to my readers:

1. I know these are not the actual transcripts of the conversations with Ebanks.
2. This is a humorous column from Patrick Hruby.
3. Yes, I know the drawing of Sampson is not accurate.
4. You are correct in assessing this story is not about Illini basketball.

Greg Couch on Kelvin Sampson

Greg Couch of the Sun-Times is known for his high standards of journalism as he covers college basketball...........NOT.

Even so, Greg takes his readers through the history of the Sampson era at Indiana and concludes by saying Sampson and Greenspan must go, so Indiana can remove the Stain on Hoosiers Name.

Greg also is fairly sure Eric Gordon was not involved in the improprieties alleged by the NCAA, but later accuses Sampson of stealing Gordon and being the "King of a slimy business."

Today's News on Kelvin Sampson and Indiana University

Today's news and other commentary was filled with stories about Kelvin Sampson and Roger Clemens. Since Roger played baseball, I will summarize the stories about Coach Sampson.

Pat Forde of ESPN explains that Indiana has several options on what to do:
1. Fire Sampson Now
2. A Pre-emptive Post Season Ban
3. Do nothing and fight the power

Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports seems to think Indiana should fire Sampson now, because: a) it's a chance to admit how wrong it was to hire him, b) or you become a joke, c)or you alienate a sizeable portion of your fan base, d) or you take a public relations beating, or e) you cannot possibly believe he is capable of change.

Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star thinks "you get rid of slime." And his exact recommendation to IU is:

Here’s what should happen: Sampson gets fired. Greenspan gets fired. Assistant coach Jeff Meyer gets fired. Assistant coach Dan Dakich, who arrived on the scene this season, has the Bob Knight seal of approval and hasn’t been around long enough to have become covered in sleaze. Make him the interim head coach, with the emphasis on interim. IU doesn’t need another Mike Davis mess.

Something tells me Sampson will be fired. Can they fire him easily? Just read his contract.

Coach Sampson Deserves his Day in Court

Tonight I have a guest blogger, a friend (let's call him Hoosier Sam) who happens to be a huge IU basketball fan, commenting on the Kelvin Sampson situation. Here's his unbiased commentary.

The fallout in the media from the allegations of violations by the NCAA is amazing. What happened to the American tradition of due process, anyway? I'm not sure these NCAA rules are even constitutionally viable. Everyone uses a cell phone these days, and some people insist on using them with those annoying earbuds as they walk around looking like they are talking to themselves. How can the NCAA expect anyone go give up their cell phone privileges when it's become almost a part of everyday existence? Like all defendants, Coach Sampson deserves his day in court, when he can explain himself to those who think he did something wrong.

And all of this talk about repeat violations being a problem with the NCAA is even more troubling. I'm not an attorney, but I've seen enough legal shows and movies to know that you can't be tried twice for the same crime. That's double jeapardy, people. So once he was found guilty of being a cell phone fanatic due to his massive calling days at Oklahoma, he can't be charged again, can he?

And even if he could be charged again, maybe since he moved across state lines, you can't bring up past crimes when you prosecute someone, without prejudicing the jury. So why does the media and the NCAA keep worrying about the issues down in Oklahoma? That was another university and another basketball program, and really has nothing to do with the "alleged" issues at Indiana.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that Coach Sampson is innocent until proven guilty, and this is America, so everyone should just leave him alone and let those kids play basketball.

This whole controvery was probably created by those Illinois fans anyway, just trying to get under Coach Sampson's skin.

NCAA Allegations against IU Released by NCAA

This article in Indystar.com summarizes everything that came out today.

If you want to read the exact document for yourself, here's a link.

This looks like bad news for Coach Sampson and the IU basketball program.

Major Violations at Indiana University

According to ESPN.com, IU will make public major violation allegations against the University's basketball program tomorrow. Indiana received the letter from the NCAA last Friday, and the NCAA is expected to make a ruling on the infractions sometime this summer, after the basketball season is over. More on this tomorrow.

IU Coach Sampson honored by SI.com

The timing of the award is somewhat surprising, but SI.com just paid an honor to Coach Kelvin Sampson of the Indiana Hoosiers. Coach Sampson received his award shortly before Thanksgiving according to published reports.