First, we find out that IU showed a great deal of unpublicized interest in Gonzaga's Mark Few and Memphis's John Calipari. However, these solid coaches didn't reciprocate that interest. Hmmmm...I thought Indiana Basketball was a Top Ten program on a national level - a program that could just choose its next head basketball coach when it needed a new one?
And we now understand that Sampson's graduation rates at Oklahoma were amongst the lowest in the country and that he will be leaving OU in a cloud of alleged recruiting infractions. Sounds to me as if Sampson is a motivated man on-the-move.
At least on the surface, this hire has a flavor of desperation in it. Not to mention that, as this news has just broken in the last 24 hours or so, Hoosier Nation is not exactly rolling out the crimson carpet for Sampson - not yet, anyway.
I wonder if Rick Greenspan consulted with Big Ten boss Jim Delaney before he reached out to Sampson? I know Illinois AD Ron Guenther always seeks input from Delaney when he is looking for a major head coach. It sure can't hurt to have Delaney's blessings before you put your good money down on the table.
Good luck with Sampson, Hoosiers. Somehow, I fearfully expected more from this hire.
This was supposed to be the big, sexy hire, the balloons-and-confetti hire that would once again unite the fractured Hoosier Nation. This was supposed to be the hire that confirmed IU's delusional self-image as a top-five, even top-10 program, the hire that sent shock waves through the upcoming Final Four here in Indianapolis.If goal was to unite fans, it failed
Maybe Billy Donovan. Or John Calipari. Or Mark Few. Or someone with a Bob Knight pedigree, a Steve Alford or even Randy Wittman.
Kelvin Sampson?
Really?
...
This whole thing, the Davis resignation and the Rick Greenspan-led search, was supposed to be done with the idea of uniting Hoosier fans under one banner, energizing them after years of disillusionment and ennui.
Well, I don't claim to speak for the Hoosier Nation, but the early returns suggest it is united -- united in its amazement that Greenspan, the man on the hottest seat of all, could make a less dazzling and more distressing hire.
Not sexy.
Not a member of the family.
Neither.
Did you hear that noise?
Thud.
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ESPN's Pat Forde weighs in on Sampson:
"For the next few years, the temperature is going to be 1,000 degrees Kelvin under the chair of Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan.
"With the hiring of Kelvin Sampson, Greenspan's seat is suddenly as hot as any athletic director's in America (Mike Alden excluded). A slow, secretive search for the next basketball coach at Indiana has not produced an instant unifier for a badly fractured fan base.
"The six-year struggle for the soul of Indiana basketball will continue until Sampson proves to be the great healer or fails to get it done. We won't know the definitive answer for years, and that's important to keep in mind. Sampson certainly deserves the clean start Mike Davis never got.
"But if the message boards and talk radio in the area are any indication of the immediate impact, there was no dancing in the Hoosier streets Wednesday."
Source: Sampson hire won't quiet critics immediately
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