How Did IU Ever Hire Sampson?

First of all, if Indiana University has ever been guilty of anything it would be its resistance to "change". And that thinking has served it well for over 175 years with leaders like Bryan, Jordan, Wells, and Ryan. It has been blessed with great faculty who have done ground-breaking research in biology, chemistry, physics, and human sexual behavior(I had to throw that in).

The Athletic Department has distinguished itself until recently as one of the finest in the country. Doc Councilman did not lose a Big Ten meet in over a decade and won seven consecutive NCAA titles before he swam the English Channel at 66 years of age(a record at the time). Branch McCracken led the Hurryin' Hoosiers to two NCAA basketball championships, Jerry Yeagley started a soccer club in 1963 which eventually led to six NCAA titles, and everyone remembers Bobby winning three NCAA championships. As far as I know, none of these men ever broke the rules.

So, where in Heaven's Name did things go awry?

Well, someone thought it would be good to "change" things at IU. It all started innocently when Thomas Ehrlich was named president of the university. He had a distinguished academic background and was hired to raise the bar on IU's somewhat mediocre academic ranking. Well, he clashed with Bobby. Ehrlich was right, but he was messing with the status quo. To make a long story short, Ehrlich quit rather than lock horns with Knight. Enter Myles Brand as the new president. He basically had the same mission as Ehrlich, but he was not to be intimidated by a basketball coach and Bobby was canned-and rightfully so. However, by now things were so broken between the athletic department, the university, and the citizens of Indiana, Brand resigned to take over the NCAA in Indianapolis.

Indiana University became a ship without a compass. It also needed to hire a new A.D.(Bobby got him canned, too). IU began to drift. No one was at the helm. We were left with a miserable football program that couldn't get 25,000 fannies in the stands and the basketball program was stuck with a coach who was thrown in the ocean but had not yet learned to swim with the sharks.

Ticket sales and all related revenue tanked. The athletic department was in the red. To give you some perspective, IU's annual budget is one third the size ($32 million vs. $100+ million) of Michigan and Ohio State's annual largess. Something had to "change" and remember, Bloomington doesn't like "change".

Well, someone thought it would be a good idea to hire a new president from an athletically oriented state like Florida, home of "there are no rules". Down south the battle cry is "Just win", even if the players are illiterate thugs. Enter Adam Herbert from the Sunshine State as the new president of IU. President Herbert's first act as president was to get on a plane and go back to Florida and wait on the paychecks to arrive in the mail. In the meantime, while Herbert was on a permanent vacation in Florida, Rick Greenspan was hired as the athletic director. His mantra was to bring in the bucks. Now that we have a motive, we need someone to commit the crime. Allow me to introduce Kelvin Sampson as the new basketball coach and new savior of the revenue stream for Indiana University Athletics. You can read the rest of that story in the paper.

It can be fixed. But first, we need to "change" it back to the way it used to be. IU used to stand for something...namely integrity and honesty. The alumni want to be proud again...we want our IU heritage of integrity back!