"If Sampson ain't coaching, we ain't playing"

[IlliBraves]

I am a big IU basketball fan and trust me, I think he should be fired. But I also believe the NCAA has rules and procedures for investigations just like they have recruiting rules to be followed. Why is it that IU is not giving Sampson the right of due process? If he broke the rules (which I have no doubt he did) then he should be fired but IU is jumping the gun and trying to sweep this under the rug as quickly as possible instead of going through the NCAA's processes.

As far as Sampson cheating in other ways there is no evidence or rumors to that effect so that's just unfounded speculation. I will reiterate that fact that if he cheated he should be fired but it isn't right for IU to make him and most of the coaching staff a sacrifice so they don't have any further sanctions handed down to them. Let it run its course and if he's wrong...fire him.

This is the NCAA, not the constitution of the United States. Why does a guy who we all know cheated, since this whole thing started back in the fall, be allowed to take a team to the NCAA tournament and get paid large sums of money in the process. IU already took away his bonuses, so the man is CLEARLY guilty. Besides, Indiana already self-imposed an investigation probing into this issue. Indiana's lucky they even get to play in the tournament this year. Perhaps if this was a first time offense he might get due process but Greenspan already showed a serious lack of judgment by hiring Sampson in the first place. I have no stomach for a cheater, and guys like Jim O'Brien and Jim Harrick got what they deserved. The NCAA as a whole should clean up its act, it's an academic institution, not a pro team.

[Da Coach]

Premium story on the Indiana Scout site--
Players Want McCallum

http://indiana.scout.com/2/731090.html

Apparently when the players met with ASD Rick Greenspan last night, they wanted some say in who the next coach would be. Not that anyone asked for their input, but the players say they won't play unless assistant coach Ray Mccallum is named as the interim coach.

Here is a clip from the article--
Conventional wisdom has been that person who would be named to take over would be first-year assistant and long-time Bowling Green coach Dan Dakich. HoosierNation.com sources say that that many of the players are asking that second-year assistant Ray McCallum be the one who takes the reins of the program beginning tomorrow in Evanston.

The players allegedly made that request while meeting with IU Athletics Director Rick Greenspan Thursday night, and have threatened to not play if McCallum isn??™t the interim choice.

Probably the biggest negative on McCallum??™s resume, though, is that his ties to the troubled Sampson are deeper. After leaving Houston in 2004, he spent two seasons as an assistant on Sampson??™s Oklahoma staff and then joined him in Bloomington for the past two seasons. But McCallum wasn??™t a part of Sampson??™s recruiting issues at Oklahoma, and the only mention of him in either the original Ice Miller Report in October and the NCAA??™s Notice of Allegations released last week was one phone call placed from his home, the fewest of any of the assistants on staff.

[IlliBraves]

All the Michigan kids suffered the same punishment as Chris Webber when it was found that Webber broke the rules
All the Villanova kids suffered the same penalty when it was discovered that Howard Porter broke the rules (all he did was hire an agent before the NCAA Finals)
All the kids in the Bradley program were penalized when the BU players
Many, many examples exist where the program has to forfeit wins because players broke rules and made themselves ineligible, and many cases exist where a coach was cheating and the entire program was penalized.
It even happened to the high school kids at Hales Francisdcan over a clerical error that had nothing to do with the kids.

You have no choice but to punish the entire program. Why should you be allowed to skate by when the cheating the coach did was a key contributor to making you a better program? It's not fair to other schools who follow the rules see a dirty program get to slide by.

[bert notorius]

Indiana had special verbiage put in Kelvie's contract just for this possibility.

[Da Coach]

Also, an inside source at Indiana sent me this list that he says is an early list of potential candidates as a replacement coach. Take it for what it's worth, I cannot vouch for the veracity of this information.--

The order as it stands now is:
Tony Bennett (Washington State)
Brad Brownell (Wright State)
Scott Drew (Baylor)
Anthony Grant (VCU)
Chris Lowery (Southern Illinois)
Sean Miller (Xavier)
Bruce Pearl (Tennessee)
Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt).
other names mentioned--Thad Matta, Scott Skiles, Steve Alford, Mark Few, Randy Wittman

[SFP]

Sampson is on probation and if he cheated again he should be canned period! Unlike others I believe he is one heck of a coach and do see him as a capable NBA coach.

IU needs to go on some type of probation. Other schools have done deeds that are at best similar, 'lack of institutional control' is what they call it. Now how harsh should it be? They need to eliminate a few scholarships for one (from 13 to 10) and keep them out of post season for at least a year, either this year or next. It will be interesting to see what happens. Yes no one committed a crime but rules are rules and should be dealt the same for IU as would be any other school in the NCAA.

[tornado]

Inside source: The seniors all had individual meetings with Sampson by themselves yesterday; Lance and DJ (captains) met with Sampson together yesterday; the 5 players reported in this thread had a meeting with Greenspan yesterday; and the whole team met with Greenspan last night. Apparently it's a complete circus in Bloomington right now.

In all fairness this was a closed meeting and nobody who was there is speaking on the record...so just maybe some of this is hearsay.

I just want to make one point. None of the things Sampson did were illegal. They may have violated NCAA rules but no one is going to jail over some phone calls.

Do we really know for sure...
there is such a thing as "Corporate Law" and "Contract Law", and there are statutes that cover it and there is some that's federal and most is state to state.
How do we really know what signed and LEGAL agreements that Kelvin Sampson has violated. If he has, then he may be held in violation and even in contempt if it goes that far. It is quite possible that some sugned and attested statements of his have sworn he is telling the truth to the investigators of Ice Miller and NCAA. If it found that he did indeed lie, then again, it could be taken to court and proven he violated contract law.
Therefore....to unequivocally state that he has done nothing "illegal" it at least irresponsible, and at most quite possibly dead wrong.
Remember the Enron guys?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract

[IlliBraves]

Interesting list, DC. I think Xavier's coach would be a good fit. Not sure about other guys on the list. For one, I doubt that Stallings would ever come back, mainly because he's a Purdue guy. I'd like to think that Lowery would never go to IU and I hope he stays loyal to the Valley. I could kind of see Drew, because he did a good job at Valpo and he's an Indiana guy. But, I'm a little stricken by the lack of big names on the list, considering Indiana always touts themselves at a top 5 job.

[Murph]

The Kelvin Sampson watch ...

Update, 1:00 p.m. ET: A new Indy Star story on its web site reports that no news conference has been scheduled yet, and its unknown if one will even be held. The Star's Terry Hutchens reports that a person close to the situation said that administrators continue to discuss Sampson's fate and said the situation is "fluid."

[tornado]

WOW--- here's a headline that scared the you-know-what out of me...

"Matt Roth was arrested late Friday on a public intoxication charge"

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2008/02/07/sports/hawkeyes/football/doc47a88391cf39e646283591.txt

http://media.www.dailyiowan.com/media/storage/paper599/news/2008/02/05/Sports/ExHawk.Roth.Charged.With.Public.Intox-3188031.shtml

BUT.............before anyone gets upset....
it is a different Matt Roth....whew.....




By the way.......someone got a snapshot of Kelvin Sampson leaving IU's Assembly Hall, possibly for the last time!



Sampson Out

http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/

[MacabreMob]

Interesting list, DC. I think Xavier's coach would be a good fit. Not sure about other guys on the list. For one, I doubt that Stallings would ever come back, mainly because he's a Purdue guy. I'd like to think that Lowery would never go to IU and I hope he stays loyal to the Valley. I could kind of see Drew, because he did a good job at Valpo and he's an Indiana guy. But, I'm a little stricken by the lack of big names on the list, considering Indiana always touts themselves at a top 5 job.

I'm rooting for Bruce Pearl Jam!

[J Money]

In all fairness this was a closed meeting and nobody who was there is speaking on the record...so just maybe some of this is hearsay.

This is not hearsay it is fact. Also, the press conference will announce that the University is putting Sampson on 10-day suspension. He can appeal to the university within these 10 days but after that he will be terminated. He has coached his last game and the players are all really mad about it. They feel like all the player meetings for input were just for show and they didn't really have a say in anything. They shouldn't have a say anyway but that's just how they feel right now.

The problem for IU in the near-term is that since all these player meetings have been taking place they haven't even had practice in the last 2 days.

[Murph]

The Kelvin Sampson watch ...

Update, 1:41 p.m. ET: Bloomington Herald-Times' blog reports that Sampson is out as coach at Indiana, but there is no report of whether he has resigned or been suspended.

[tornado]

[quote=J Money;65329]

In all fairness this was a closed meeting and nobody who was there is speaking on the record...so just maybe some of this is hearsay.


This is not hearsay it is fact.

Fact is something that can be shown and documented....can you name the person who was in the closed meeting with the players who has given the quote about the players not playing?
Please...give me the link and the name of the player?

[Beninator]

Not sure if this has been posted about the IU mess... From SI.com:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/luke_winn/02/22/indiana/