Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Coach Sampson Rebuked By Colleagues

IU Basketball Coach Kelvin Sampson has been rebuked by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) for the NCAA recruiting violations he admitted to while still a coach at Oklahoma University. The Star's Mark Alesia reports that Sampson will not be allowed to receive Final Four ticket privileges or consideration for district or national coach-of-the-year honors for a period of 3 years. He will also not be allowed to serve on NABC committees.

Earlier, Sampson was barred by the NCAA from conducting off-campus recruiting and from placing recruiting phone calls for a one-year period as punishment for making more than 500 impermissible recruiting phone calls while he was still coaching at Oklahoma.

I know that many IU fans are very excited about Sampson coaching at IU, but I have a real problem with rewarding an admitted cheat with such a coveted coaching position in hopes that he will play by the rules in the future, particularly a coach with a history of low academic performance from his players. This latest rebuke by his own coaching colleagues is yet another avoidable embarrassment to IU's athletic program.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm an IU grad. Twice. I was disgusted at Coach Knight's conduct toward the end of his career.

I was somewhat pleased with Coach Mike's performance. Tough job to follow Knight, and at the core, I never doubted Mike's ethics and judgment.

Sampson is slimy. The new AD chose him. He'll have to live with it. This is embarrassing to the university.

Hail to Old IU.