Hoosier Hysteria? Try Stupidity.

So let's say, one day you come into work and HR calls you into their office to give you a warning on surfing the Internet in your cube. You've been surfing the Internet for hours at a time, sometimes half your day. They give you a strict warning, ban you from any non-work related Internet browsing , and tell you it better not happen again.

The next day you come into work and proceed to continue your daily attempt to find out exactly where the Internet comes to an end. Well, that would be just stupid, right?

That is exactly the position in which Indiana University has found it's head basketball coach. Coach Kelvin Sampson was first fingered by the NCAA rules committee for recruiting violations (improper recruiting phone calls) that he and his staff at Oklahoma made from 2000 to 2004. Part of the NCAA's decision on the matter was that Sampson was not allowed to initiate phone calls with recruits for one year and was not to be a part of phone calls initiated by any of his staff. In the NCAA's decision, part of their reason for further punishment (beyond what Oklahoma and Indiana had self-imposed) was that Sampson had "fostered an environment of deliberate non-compliance." Pretty impressive.

This past weekend, Indiana University announced that a "routine" investigation had uncovered 35 improper phone calls placed by the men's basketball coaching staff between May 2006 and May 2007. Of those calls, Kelvin Sampson was apart of at least 10 of them in a 3-way call fashion. Yes, this is the same Kelvin Sampson that was awaiting the NCAA's decision in March of 2006 as he was being hired by Indiana University, and gave a strong promise that it would never happen in Bloomington. Wrong. And don't give me the 'these are tick tack violations'. Recruiting is the biggest game in college basketball and trying to sidestep those rules IS a big deal.

Additionally, this is the same Kelvin Sampson who had questionable graduation rates at Oklahoma.......and oh, by the way, on Sampson's watch this Spring/Summer, AJ Ratliff found himself ineligible for the 1st semester of his senior year due to grades. Now that isn't all Kelvin Sampson's fault, but it does show that it was nowhere on his radar, inconsequential.

Indiana University is known for many things, but none of them involve NCAA violations or poor graduation rates. In fact, the university hasn't seen a major rules violation in any of its sports since 1960 and boasts pretty outstanding graduation rates.

So here they are at a crossroads. Do you continue sacrificing the goodwill built over several decades and stick with your coach for the sake of winning games? A coach who obviously has "deliberate non-compliance" for the values that your sports programs and overall university have built their strong foundation on? Or do you realize that when you hire trouble, you get trouble? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Mr. Greenspan (the AD) made an exception to the values in the hiring of Coach Sampson and now it has blown up in everyone's face. It is time for the university to see Kelvin Sampson on his way and for the program to move forward in a direction more in the tradition laid down by Mr. Robert Montgomery Knight. A tradition where you follow the rules, graduate your players, and still go on to win multiple national championships. This isn't an Ode to Bob Knight. He had is issues, but he played by the rules.

It's like my favorite rap song says:

They see me rollin',
They hatin',
Patrolin' and tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty.

Sampson is ridin' dirty.

Coach Sampson runs a sloppy, unorganized ship that is sailing in the wrong direction. The university and its mighty contingent would be better served to see this one year marriage over and done with.