“It’s not the end of the world or the end of the program. I think it’s one of those ugly coincidences. These were not violations of any kind of moral turpitude and I think we should put it behind us because we’re going to have a good season.â€â€“Patrick Shoulders, Vice President, Indiana University Board of Trustees, October 2007
Back in those autumn days of mock innocence and giddy anticipation of the E.J. Show Patrick Shoulders invited those concerned about Kelvin Sampson’s latest dance with the phone call devil to rest assured, grab a Hoosier media guide, and enjoy the season ahead.
While many heeded his call for denial and rationalization back in October, Hoopraker was not among them and offered the following commentary:
Sheep And Shepherd
Published: October 15, 2007
With a vast swath of the pundit class bleating the name of Eric Gordon and installing his one year affiliation Hoosiers as conference heavies, the stench emanating from the program continues unabated. With an inevitability that Hoopraker foresaw from the moment of his coronation by Rick Greenspan, Kelvin The Recidivist continues to shepherd the program towards the outlaw margins.
The crack bust of his point guard of the future, Bud Mackey, and this week’s news about his and his staff’s incorrigible dialing habits shouldn’t be surprising to anyone not shuffling with the livestock.
While there are a few commentators close to the program who seem to have located their moral jockstraps, it is abundantly and inexcusably clear Greenspan and IU president Michael McRobbie are still warmly ensconced in the pro-Kelvin, win at any cost herd. The institutional response has been to spare the rod in favor of the feather duster.
Surrendering one scholarship and putting a one year delay on a scheduled raise are soft music indeed, especially to a two-time loser whose alienation from right conduct is clearly pathological. But to expect anything more from the same enablers who determined only a short year ago that Sampson was just the shepherd for a program that hadn’t been found in violation of any significant NCAA rule since 1960 is to have faith where none is justified.
Alas, while Greenspan and McRobbie follow their delinquent hire into the shadows, all three hoping the Eric Gordon show will be a heavy enough cologne to mask the stink of it all, one can only hope the NCAA’s response is appropriately harsh enough to force their hand. If the NCAA imposes a harsh enough sentence, perhaps only then will they locate their integrity and take leave of the man who is, in dramatically short order, undoing four decades of propriety.
Of course, it is more likely that the NCAA’s response will not be punitive enough to catalyze such a redemption for Greenspan, McRobbie, and the IU basketball program. And maybe Eric Gordon will be enough balm to cover all sins, at least for the season at hand. But, as this week’s developments, the Bud Mackey recruitment, and Sampson’s Oklahoma rap sheet suggest, IU will either get wise before it is too late or continue to follow their head coach all the way to the brink.
Back To The Present Stench
Now that the NCAA has characterized what Indiana back in October claimed were minor infractions as major violations, McRobbie and IU have a third opportunity to get on the right side of the matter. Strike one was hiring a known malfeasant. Strike two was hoping Sampson’s new violations would be deemed trivial and blow over. Will they whiff again?
Given the rigorous application of zero tolerance to Bob Knight’s manner school lecture of Kent Harvey, anything less than a dismissal of Sampson and the self-imposition of a postseason ban will be a hypocrisy and new low bar for institutional cowardice.
Anything less would be an admission that IU, for the last forty-eight years a proud standard bearer for NCAA propriety and the practice not merely the theory of student-athleticism, has joined the ranks of win at any costs athletic departments.
Need McRobbie, Greenspan, Mr. Shoulders, and colleagues be reminded that Eric Gordon and this season’s win total will be fast-drying ephemeras whereas the damages to the program’s reputation will echo and linger. Absent honor and integrity, success is a hollow, cheap thing.
Tick Tock
With the NCAA awaiting IU’s response by May 8, the first sign of whether the school is going to be a three-time loser or finally get their basketball house in order should arrive sooner than later. Will they take the lambs route and let the season play out without response? Or will they step up and defend the proud history, reputation, and future of the program and school that deserve so much better than Kelvin Sampson?
At least one can be sure that if IU fails this third test, the NCAA will be delivering some harsh grades to Bloomington this summer.
