The “University of Indiana?” Hires Sampson
I was listening to ESPNNews (listening to the radio does not violate my boycott since neither Stuart Scott, Steven A. Smith, or anyone associated with Around the Horn/Cold Pizza can be found there) earlier when they broke into Billy Donovan’s press conference with the lights and sirens about breaking news out of Bloomington, Indiana. The anchor very eagerly let it be known that Kelvin Sampson, current coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, would be replacing Mike Davis at the "University of Indiana." And this wasn’t some slip-up – the anchor referred to the school as such more than once. But the thing that’s amazing to me is that this screw-up isn’t limited to the fuckwits at ESPN.. I was watching a Steelers game sometime last fall and while praising Antwan Randle El, Jim Nantz reported that he was a starting quarterback at, you guessed it, the University of Indiana. Now, I want to make something clear — I don’t like IU. It has nothing to do with their sports and everything to do with their whining, hilljack fans; my feelings for them have only intensified since landing in this weather vortex state for college, so don’t misunderstand that I’m trying to defend their honor or something. It just baffles me that the last 10 years notwithstanding, Indiana and her three National Championships have been one of the elites of college basketball.. but somehow these anchors, these professional commenters on sport, still can’t get it right? There’s a reason the school is called IU and not UI and I imagine it has something to do with the proper order of the words. I don’t mean to freak out about something so trivial but shouldn’t sportscasters have enough respect for the institutions they report on to at least get their names right? Especially when the school is as well known as IU? It’s not like they’re having trouble figuring out if a university pronounces its name Mon-muth or Mon-mouth. Come on.
In any case, unless you’re a delusional Hoosier fan who really believed Pitino or Calipari would consider leaving their current posts for Bloomington, this seems like a reasonable hire. It’s not great and the Hoosiers didn’t get homegrown boys like Randy Wittman or Steve Alford, but I don’t see how this move isn’t a step up from Mike Davis. Though NCAA sanctions over recruiting are about to drop in Norman and Sampson’s has graduation rates are close to the Bob Huggins’ Line, the guy’s not a bad coach. He took Oklahoma to 11 NCAA tournament appearances - with a final four and a number of Elite 8 and Sweet 16 showings – and won the Big12 a couple times that I can recall. Having said that, I find it ironic and quite amusing that Mike Davis, in his first year as head coach, smoked Kelvin Sampson’s best OU squad in the 2002 Final Four… it’s gotta be a short list of men that Mike Davis has managed to outcoach in his time at the helm and the IU administration has managed to hire one of the few individuals whose name sits on that 3×3 inch Post-it note.
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Sampson has recruiting violations, his grad rates are abysmal, his players have been dealing with huge drug issues, and 75% of his team this year were JUCO’s. That kinda stuff isn’t gonna play at IU and while I think the guy’s a good coach, I don’t think this is a good match.
This isn’t a glamorous hire by any means but I think it’s gonna work out for IU. Sampson’s got a hard, physical style that’s gonna mesh well in the Big 10. He’s a name and that’s gonna help to pick up recruiting for the April period and he’ll be able put wins on the board immediately, which is the most important thing right now.
All I know is that Mike Brey is STILL the HC at ND… (:
It’s just laziness. University of Indiana and Notre Dame University have to be the biggest mistakes with obvious names that I’ve seen and they happen again and again, year after year. And with ND, I can see how maybe someone doesn’t know where the University falls but when a school is called IU, it doesnt’ seem harm to remember.
no matter what’s goin on with sampson and his offcourt issues, the guy is at least a proven winner.. moreso than the other (realistic) candidates. randy wittman hasn’t even been a head coach and steve alford has been completely underwhelming at iowa. there was no way majerus was entering that pressure cooker and thad matta wasn’t leaving OSU for IU – come on! sampson’s had 9 straight 20-win seasons, 8-4 in the ncaa, and he tends to get the most out of some pretty marginal talent. he’s gonna be fine until he loses a game and hoosier fans start bombing his house.
They couldn’t have hired Majerus. I don’t think Bloomington has any hotel penthouses for him to live in.
i think iu could’ve done better but getting away from anyone with ties to bob knight was a great move. that guy remains bigger than the school and bringing in people attached to him would’ve only caused trouble in the end.
Disagree. We needed to hire someone that could unite the fanbase and this loser isn’t the guy to get that done. This was a great time to give an IU guy like Wittman a great opportunity to succeed and get this program back on track.
If Brey doesn’t show remarkable improvement next season, he’d better be gone or it’s time to think about getting Kevin White out the door.
I love how this move came from so far out of left field that no one at IU ever saw it coming. They’re still so shocked down there that they can’t even have a proper meltdown.
yeah, i agree. i’ve heard the university of indiana a few times as well. it’s about like saying that UVA is Virginia University. i can understand hearing that from some random idiot but not from people that are supposed to know what’s going on.
The Hoosier fans were caught off guard because who could imagine their AD would hire a guy running away from NCAA violations and a graduation rate of 1%?! They pride themselves on being above all that crap. OF COURSE he wasn’t on the radar.
Hoosier fans are insane. It’s not still 1987. Randy Whitman is an awful candidate and so is Alford. Neither of them have a good enough track record to warrant signing on at a pressure cooker like IU. Alford is lucky he chokes way out in Iowa. If he was doin that in Bloomington, they woulda shot him. Sampson’s a good hire. Those people are morons.
Brey isn’t going to get fired for a long time. I mean, I hope he does, I really hope I’m wrong. But outside of Notre Dame fans people seem to think he’s doing a pretty good job. Especially the talking heads. I’ve heard a couple times analysts get pretty upset and refer to the people in South Bend who would like Brey gone. One direct quote is “Those people don’t know anything about college basketball.”
So there seem to be some differing opinions… that didn’t stop us from getting rid of Ty though, so hopefully White will make something happen if Brey sucks another year (I think our record in close games should be a wake-up call).
there’s no reasoning with IU fans about this. “Well he’s not Bob Knight or one of Bob Knights’ people so he’s not any good.” and that settles it for them! they’d rather have steve alford, who flirts with being more than mediocre every couple seasons, than a guy with a proven track record. If you can’t succeed at Iowa, you’re not gonna hack it at IU.
how these talking heads can be so “supportive” of Brey, and actually have the nads to call him an outstanding coach is beyond me. Majerus went so far as to say he was BE Coach of the Year in his opinion -really?! The man has taken the program backward over the last three years, his record over that period is 48-39, take away the December cupcake wins and where is he? I have yet to hear one player say the guy was good for him, made him a better player, improved his skills. All they say is he’s a nice guy, fun to play for…wupee! Amazing how his name never comes up when there are openings… the guy has mid major skills and mid major expectations for his program. Unfortunately ND does not compete in a mid major conference.
Brey isn’t getting fired but his incompetence has completely nixed an upgrade in facilities. It wasn’t long ago that he was using those as leverage to keep him from bolting to a place like UVA and now we can’t get rid of him. IU is lucky to have Sampson. I’m pretty envious given our situation.