Props to the awesome Purdue blog Boiled Sports for the photoshop magic.As Bob Baptist noted today, there is an unwritten agreement between the conference hoops coaches that if a kid verbals, rival schools are supposed to cease recruiting. Apparently, Kelvin Sampson didn't care much for that agreement as evidenced by his alleged recruitment of DeShaun Thomas after Thomas committed to Thad Matta last spring.
Apparently, Matta has wanted to choke out Sampson ever since and now it appears Sampson didn't stop with Thomas. Baptist's column notes the Toledo Blade reported OSU commit William Buford received a recruiting call from the IU staff nearly a full year after Buford's verbal to Matta.
IU assistant coach Rob Senderoff also placed an impermissable call to Evan Turner on May 11, 2006 as noted in the NCAA letter to IU outlining the allegations.
Indiana has a press conference scheduled for 3pm today to discuss the allegations and Sampson's status as Head Cheat, er Coach. A suspension while an internal investigation is completed appears to be a possibility as a precursor to termination once the university weighs its legal position.
Most pundits agree IU wants to can Sampson now but they've decided to proceed with caution after watching OSU botch the firing of fellow cheater Jim O'Brien to avoid a wrongful termination suit down the road. Either way, it's likely just a matter of time before Sampson is 86'd. Good riddance.
Comments
Would it surprise anyone if IU kept him around to coach against Michigan St., then suspend or terminate him?
I'm not sure who would takeover on interim basis? I assume some of his assistants are in deep dookie, too.
I wonder if Steve Alford's dusted off his resume yet...
Be careful Chris, Hoosier fan will start questioning your credibility as a basketball information source. I don't know if anyone has enjoyed what has happened to IU this week more than me.
I have heard Dane Fife's name thrown around too. They should have never let the General go.
Dan Dakich is already on staff, I would think he would take over for the rest of this year.
But it doesn't matter though. They are still irrelevant entity in the college basketball world. :-)
It's truly a shame this is happening because the conference needs teams like IU to be viewed postively as the conference tries to restore its image in both football and hoops. I'd love to see Knight come back but it just seems too far fetched considering how messy the divorce was...I hear folks saying the regime that chased Knight away is no longer employed at IU but I have a hard time seeing Knight on the IU sidelines again.
If they're smart they'll go after Xavier's coach.....Shawn Miller (I think that's his name)
Can you imagine if he was recruiting Indiana AND had ties to the southern Ohio/Kentucky area?!??
If it's unwritten, its not a rule. :P
Sean Miller. I think he'd rather stay at a program with solid credibility right now, rather than start over when all the recruits leave (i.e. the Cincinnati situation)
I want to punch Kelvin Sampson in his fat head for trying to steal away our recruits.
Gutless university just wanted to have him on the bench for this game because they have a chance at a league title. What good is it if you end up like the '99 O'Brian Cheater team and have to pretend the season never happened?
I dislike Sampson intensely, but Indiana is wise to give themselves a week's time to do an "investigation." They don't want to end up paying Sampson $2.5 million because they didn't follow procedure, a la Ohio State.
OSU was perfectly right to fire O'Be Cheatin', but Indiana is smart to learn a lesson from OSU's procedural gaffe, and save themselves some money.
Sampson's gone next week, but Knight isn't coming back to IU. No way.
Why not suspend with pay?