As Kelvin Sampson continues to use his cell phone to cling to the program and players that should’ve been his professional salvation but instead became the next victims of his incorrigibility and desperation, the Hoosiers and their current alumnus-in-chief have, in their short stint together, shown admirable resilience in taking two more crucial steps towards a Big Ten title. Winning, there is no doubt, is the best of healers.
April’s Hot Seat
While it remains to be seen whether the program’s path to redemption will include banners and hardware this season, the future of the program beyond April will be depend largely on an athletic director whose judgment the past two years has given more reasons to doubt than believe. While there may be reason to still speculate about his job security, it seems from today’s vantage point that Rick Greenspan will be charged with the task of delivering the program its third head coach since Bob Knight.
After the slow fatigue of the Mike Davis tenure and with a program facing stiff, but as yet indeterminate penalties and a compromised recruiting cycle for 2008-09 thanks to his successor, Greenspan needs to make the kind of uplifting, high approval rating hire that will give IU basketball and its fan base a rallying point for the tough times ahead.
The decision to appoint Hoosier family fixture Dakich as interim was an auspicious first step, but Greenspan’s next official basketball hire will define his IU legacy and his own professional future in Bloomington. Whether his judgment is up to the task will be the operative question of the spring and summer.
Elements of the spin generating from Bloomington are that it was former president Herbert who was most instrumental in bringing Sampson onboard. In this set of unsubstantiated rumors, Greenspan was said to have favored Mark Few, Kevin Stallings, or John Beilein only to be trumped by Herbert’s advocacy for Sampson.
Certainly, if it is true, Greenspan’s reputation is the beneficiary. All three of those alternatives have excellent resumes as not only winners but coaches who conduct their business with integrity and propriety.
Speculative Science
While Beilein isn’t leaving Ann Arbor anytime soon, the other two would still constitute solid, thoughtful hires. Though Few couldn’t keep Josh Heytvelt from taking a couple rides on the Magic Mushroom Express, the overall complexion of his program has been not unlike that of Majerus’ at Utah, clean and overachieving. It’s hard to imagine Few hasn’t gotten high-major offers every off-season for the past decade. The fact that he hasn’t left Spokane may be a strong indication that he’s there for the duration.
Kevin Stallings (Purdue ‘82), a coach thanks to solid success at Illinois State (1994-99) and his conspicuous breakthroughs the past two seasons at Vanderbilt (Sweet 16 2007), has been on the tongues of many programs’ fan bases of late. Currently at 24-4, 18th in the AP poll, and fresh off a humbling of Bruce Pearl’s track squad, Stallings is dispelling any remaining myths about elite academic institutions being antithetical to high-level basketball success. Stallings, an Illinois schoolboy (Collinsville, IL.) and Keady protege, has serious chops, integrity, and the kind of competitive zeal that Joakim Noah will corroborate. Would the IU nation invite a Boilermaker into their inner sanctum?
Of course, the kind of speculation suggested by the rumor-mill whether it is the names cited above, Randy Wittman, Sean Miller, or Scott Skiles is valuable more for its entertainment than anything else. Trying to divine the coaching short-lists of athletic directors is speculative science indeed. Analyzing the track records of major media journalists in this department would betray a lot of sub-Mendoza averages and this despite privileged levels of access.
The Credibility Test
That said, Greenspan’s choice will be a final referendum on his credibility and most importantly, will determine how quickly his host institution regains what had been one of the most unimpeachable basketball programs from a success-to-sanctions ratio over the past half century.
Of course, anyone looking for a primer on good basketball human resources wouldn’t be poorly served by looking across the conference to Iowa City and Ann Arbor. While Lickliter and Beilein will not provide the kind of short-cut timetables that the most impatient factions of fan bases clamor for, they are making marked, highly impressive strides for their new programs and will win the right way.
Greenspan needs to add yet another exemplar to what is already the nation’s finest coaching roster of any conference. And once they have him installed, patience will be in order. Instant success, especially given the sanctions and recruiting disruption, will not be supportable. With Sampson as a cautionary tale, instant success should often be viewed with great skepticism.
Live The Moment
In the meantime it is reassuring to see D.J. and company taking good, long strides toward Dakich. The season at hand still has stratospheric potential and it would be one of the finer college basketball stories of recent memory if the Hoosiers and their interim could enjoy a healing March dance together. And who knows, maybe Dakich will write a compelling argument for himself in the next month and a half. Despite the Sampson storm clouds, there are several reasons for optimism, present and future, in Bloomington.
