No gray area here: Sampson a cheater
Found a great Web site the other day: www.kelvinsampson.com.
It has everything you want to know about the two-time national coach of the year.
For example, here's the first quote from the beautiful "Biography" page:
"Indiana is one of those special places where you say, 'basketball,' and Indiana is an automatic word association," Sampson said.
When someone finally gets around to updating this Biography page, it ought to read something like this:
"Kelvin Sampson is one of those special people where you say, 'cheater,' and Kelvin Sampson is an automatic word association."
Why are we picking on not-so-poor Mr. Sampson?
Some college basketball coaches look at the 1,200-page NCAA rules manual and see black and white. They obey the letters of the law.
Many coaches see another color -- the famed "gray area" -- and recruit accordingly.
It's safe to say several teams in the current Top 25 have been built on the gray-area principle.
Then there's No. 15 Indiana and Sampson, its former coach who negotiated himself a $750,000 payoff Friday provided he left the school quietly.
The only way he could have been more of a bald-faced cheater is if he'd handed Eric Gordon Jr. a $100,000 bill at midcourt just before tipoff.
Sampson was on black-and-white probation after being held responsible for hundreds of illegal phone calls at Oklahoma (the Sooners, by the way, remain on probation until May 24 for Sampson's acts).
Sampson promised not to violate his probation -- vowed not to make any phone calls or take part in any three-way calls -- when he was hired at Indiana. He wasted little time failing to live up to his word.
Then, when confronted with these IU-reported illegal acts by NCAA investigators, Sampson lied about the calls.
Then, when the NCAA's official report accused him of lying, he read a prepared statement claiming he had "never intentionally provided false or misleading information to the NCAA."
Nice weasel word, "intentionally."
With that kind of track record, it's difficult to believe Sampson did nothing else scurrilous during his 23-month tenure in Bloomington, Ind.
Indeed, at least one anonymous coach claims Sampson did "some bad s---" while with the Hoosiers.
If that's the truth, should we blame Mr. Sampson for doing so?
Because here's the most disappointing realization in this whole saga: Cheaters are prospering.
Sampson gets $750,000. He'll probably be a well-paid ESPN analyst by this time next year.
Indiana gets to continue on its route to the NCAA Tournament, where the D.J. White-Eric Gordon combo gives the Hoosiers a legitimate chance at a great run.
And the Hoosiers' program going forward? It should be just fine, even if it's found guilty of all five major violations.
Dr. Chad McEvoy, an Illinois State professor who's a statistical-analysis wizard, presented a paper last spring at the North American Society for Sport Management Conference.
McEvoy studied the effectiveness of major NCAA penalties on football, men's basketball and women's basketball programs.
Long story short?
"Initial results showed little effect of penalties on subsequent team performance for NCAA athletic programs receiving major penalties," McEvoy's synopsis read.
That's a nice lesson all around.