Imagine Sampson at IU the past two decades…

[MdWIldcat55]

For old timers like me, who remember the world’s ugliest most toxic fan base as they were when Bobby Knight was on top from 75-87, the idea that Kelvin Sampson could have been putting teams as good as or better than his recent Houston teams out there for IUse2Be for the past 17 years is terrifying.

Thank goodness we got to experience nearly 35 years of almost unbroken fiascos and failures instead, leaving them starting over after missing the tournament again: 11 times in those 17 years.

Just a tiny extra bonus this morning from the Duke collapse.

 

[UK90]

But he made too many phone calls!

Such malfeasance can’t be tolerated.

 

[precipitance]

But he made too many phone calls!

Such malfeasance can’t be tolerated.

Always figured that there had to be more going on behind closed doors. Nothing ever came out. Not a good look for Indiana just based on the known details.

 

[Someguywhodoesntlikeyou]

The lamest part in all that was that the President of IU at the time personally apologized to Myles Brand for hiring Sampson. Went up to him to his face and said “I’m very, very sorry we hired him”.

 

[Rafterman]

How good would IU have been the last 15-20 years if they had kept him?

 

[UK90]

Always figured that there had to be more going on behind closed doors. Nothing ever came out. Not a good look for Indiana just based on the known details.

The catch is that he’d previously been busted for the same phone call violation at Oklahoma .,,so it was a second offense …and IU had apparently given him an “absolutely not again” ultimatum when they hired him.

The funny thing is the NCAA never would’ve known if IU’s own compliance guy hadn’t self-reported the violation. And even the NCAA admitted it was a stupid rule when they got rid of it immediately after that. So IU basically committed program suicide over nothing.

 

[SemperFiCat]

The catch is that he’d previously been busted for the same phone call violation at Oklahoma .,,so it was a second offense …and IU had apparently given him an “absolutely not again” ultimatum when they hired him.

The funny thing is the NCAA never would’ve known if IU’s own compliance guy hadn’t self-reported the violation. And even the NCAA admitted it was a stupid rule when they got rid of it immediately after that. So IU basically committed program suicide over nothing.

The entire thing is pretty glorious. While I do think college basketball is better when IU is at least competitive, I've personally loved the absolute soul snatching that's happened to IU.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Nobody wants to wear those warm ups from the Brady Bunch Era.

 

[CELTICAT]

The catch is that he’d previously been busted for the same phone call violation at Oklahoma .,,so it was a second offense …and IU had apparently given him an “absolutely not again” ultimatum when they hired him.

The funny thing is the NCAA never would’ve known if IU’s own compliance guy hadn’t self-reported the violation. And even the NCAA admitted it was a stupid rule when they got rid of it immediately after that. So IU basically committed program suicide over nothing.

All part of that “winning the right way” psychosis they developed.

 

[Smashcat]

Thank goodness we got to experience nearly 35 years of almost unbroken fiascos and failures instead, leaving them starting over after missing the tournament again: 11 times in those 17 years.

This!👍

 

[billoliver40]

Kelvin Sampson has now been involved with thr diwnfall of two programs I dislike the most.

 

[EliteBlue]

Kelvin Sampson has now been involved with thr diwnfall of two programs I dislike the most.

He and Pitino are out there sabotaging our rivals…and for that, I’m a fan of both

 

[dbmhoosier]

The lamest part in all that was that the President of IU at the time personally apologized to Myles Brand for hiring Sampson. Went up to him to his face and said “I’m very, very sorry we hired him”.

Not sure that's accurate. Adam Herbert was the President and he's the one who hired Sampson. Our Ad, Rick Greenspan, had John Beilein locked up who was his #1 choice and the perfect fit for IU. Herbert overruled him and said a white coach could not replace Mike Davis that it had to be a minority. That's how we got Sampson.

 

[CatEye2010]

A IU fan and colleague of mine said Sampson also was bringing in thugs and druggies and the Knight guys wanted him gone.

Knight- the gift that keeps on giving 😂

 

[dbmhoosier]

A IU fan and colleague of mine said Sampson also was bringing in thugs and druggies and the Knight guys wanted him gone.

Knight- the gift that keeps on giving 😂

This is true.

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

How inept is Indiana’s administration. You literally had a Hall of Fame head coach and fired him over text messages. You could have fined him or suspended him for a few games. Nope we’re gonna fire him. Sampson would have Indiana a top 10 team for the last 15 years. Probably would have won a Championship or at least multiple final fours. They deserved what they get. They just hired a coach that didn’t even make the tournament. They have no players returning. It doesn’t look like they are doing all that well in the portal as of now. I don’t know about you guys but I love this for Indiana!!!!

 

[Jeff Sykes]

I blame it all on those God awful candy stripe warmup pants. Any program that puts that on their players deserves to lose games.

 

[Pygmy Sasquatch]

Indiana, doing it the right way or something

 

[Dead Cat Bounce]

Somebody please refresh my memory: I know Sampson was accused of the same player-contact violations that he carried forward from his previous job, so there was the aggravating circumstance of a second strike, but was there also an element of deception or an attempt to hide the infraction the same way that Pearl did with his BBQ? I can't clearly remember. It does seem quaint in the hindsight of today's recruitment and NIL practices.

 

[UKSanders]

Maybe IU didn’t have to self-report when they did.

However, once the violations were, theyhad no choice but to fire him because he was thinking Sampson was given a 5 year show-cause.

 

[bthaunert]

Somebody please refresh my memory: I know Sampson was accused of the same player-contact violations that he carried forward from his previous job, so there was the aggravating circumstance of a second strike, but was there also an element of deception or an attempt to hide the infraction the same way that Pearl did with his BBQ? I can't clearly remember. It does seem quaint in the hindsight of today's recruitment and NIL practices.

I don’t believe so. What people are not including though is that the NCAA gave him a 5 year show cause…which is a significant punishment. Had Indiana not fired him, I think they would have been hit with some major sanctions…as stupid as it is

 

[wcc31]

For old timers like me, who remember the world’s ugliest most toxic fan base as they were when Bobby Knight was on top from 75-87, the idea that Kelvin Sampson could have been putting teams as good as or better than his recent Houston teams out there for IUse2Be for the past 17 years is terrifying.

Thank goodness we got to experience nearly 35 years of almost unbroken fiascos and failures instead, leaving them starting over after missing the tournament again: 11 times in those 17 years.

Just a tiny extra bonus this morning from the Duke collapse.

I think about this all the time and grin. Indiana had the dude and fired him for too many text messages. 😂

 

[BIG BLUE GURU]

I normally would pull for the SEC team in a championship game but for this one I hope Houston wins or a couple reasons. 1. They have never one a title. 2. Woud really piss off IU fans even further if their old coach that was fired wins the one thing they want the most.

 

[KYExtemper]

Again, people have to remember that Sampson got a "show cause" penalty. Indiana basically HAD to fire him under the old rules because if they'd committed any other violations while keeping him then it could've led to much worse.

This was before UNC's academic fraud scandal just revealed that the NCAA was toothless. I'm still convinced that debacle opened the floodgates for what we have today because it became open season to just challenge the NCAA's rules and disregard them.

But yeah, if Sampson was never terminated then Indiana would be a strong team today. He had that team primed to make a run right when he was fired and he'd only been there for like 2 or 3 years. They would've wreaked havoc on the Big 10.

 

[runt#69]

For old timers like me, who remember the world’s ugliest most toxic fan base as they were when Bobby Knight was on top from 75-87, the idea that Kelvin Sampson could have been putting teams as good as or better than his recent Houston teams out there for IUse2Be for the past 17 years is terrifying.

Thank GOD we got to experience nearly 35 years (cough **1987** cough) of almost unbroken fiascos and failures from Indiana. Leaving them starting over and over again after missing the tournament time and time again: 11 times in those 17 years.

Just another extra bonus this morning from the Duke collapse.

yeah, but Im rather wanting to vomit incessantly at that initial thought, so I fixed it for ya. The mods are busy these days

Reality is so much sweeter.

Why go there, mon frere' ?

cm'on MD ! just pullin yer chain bud !

I am glad we're gonna get back to meeting IU again in the regular season. Gives us a chance to even the score and one up them. AGAIN. It will be good for Kentucky and basketball in general, even if IU does becomes somewhat "relevant" again.

I always wanted to see us win ONE for sure regular season game we played every year since 1974 following Kentucky.

And that was : BEAT INDIANA.

so shall it become once again. and now, with the added touch "screw the SEC, dominate it too !"

Go Big Blue !

 

[jeffky]

How inept is Indiana’s administration. You literally had a Hall of Fame head coach and fired him over text messages. You could have fined him or suspended him for a few games. Nope we’re gonna fire him. Sampson would have Indiana a top 10 team for the last 15 years. Probably would have won a Championship or at least multiple final fours. They deserved what they get. They just hired a coach that didn’t even make the tournament. They have no players returning. It doesn’t look like they are doing all that well in the portal as of now. I don’t know about you guys but I love this for Indiana!!!!

Before the state made Kentucky and Louisville play regularly. the two biggest rivals were Indiana and Notre Dame. . Non sec

 

[ukcatz12]

You literally had a Hall of Fame head coach and fired him over text messages. You could have fined him or suspended him for a few games. Nope we’re gonna fire him.

They had to fire him. He was given a show cause penalty by the NCAA. If they kept him the NCAA would have absolutely brought the hammer down. Sampson was so radioactive after that not a single college would hire him until the show cause ran out. He spent time in the NBA as an assistant.

Indiana had no choice.

 

[Mash 2.4]

They should have just told the NCAA to eff off like UNC did.

 

[will1976]

For old timers like me, who remember the world’s ugliest most toxic fan base as they were when Bobby Knight was on top from 75-87, the idea that Kelvin Sampson could have been putting teams as good as or better than his recent Houston teams out there for IUse2Be for the past 17 years is terrifying.

Thank goodness we got to experience nearly 35 years of almost unbroken fiascos and failures instead, leaving them starting over after missing the tournament again: 11 times in those 17 years.

Just a tiny extra bonus this morning from the Duke collapse.

Thank God for Sampson's phone scandel.

 

[UK90]

They should have just told the NCAA to eff off like UNC did.

Comparing the IU and UNC situations is rather illuminating on how to deal with the NCAA.

IU tried the cooperative approach ....even ratting themselves out by self reporting a violation that otherwise would've likely gone undiscovered ...on the premise that cooperating would invite leniency. That approach did not work.

UNC went the opposite way with the combative approach ...hiring an army of lawyers to go to war with the NCAA and contesting absolutely everything. That approach did work.

So guess what lesson that taught everyone else? Nowadays the NCAA is scared shitless to go after anyone for fear that they'll get the UNC treatment again.

 

[UKBrassowTipIN]

A IU fan and colleague of mine said Sampson also was bringing in thugs and druggies and the Knight guys wanted him gone.

Knight- the gift that keeps on giving 😂

Yeah, Bud Mackey