Sampson Should Have Called Indiana -- On The Clue Phone

In a way, Indiana got exactly what it wanted out of Kelvin Sampson.

In fact, it got that in a lot of ways. Hoosier Nation got highly sought-after recruits, such as Eric Gordon. They got a return to national prominence, with a Top 20 ranking throughout the season and a serious chance at a Big Ten championship. They got -- eventually -- the coach many of them really wanted, Dan Dakich, after Sampson agreed to a $750,000 buyout in the wake of an NCAA investigation alleging illegal phone contact with recruits.

And, most of all, they got a chance to put on very public display how much they pretend to care about other things besides winning.

Part of the reason that Hoosier fans loved Bob Knight so much is that he did just enough to give people a reason to believe that he was a decent, upstanding citizen who was just misunderstood. That’s all they ever asked of a coach who won three national championships. (If you don’t believe me, just ask Mike Davis, who had exactly the same surly, selfish personality with more restraint and still didn’t last more than a couple graduating classes.)

Everyone knew Sampson was a cheater at Oklahoma; heck, he ran to Bloomington in a failed attempt to avoid NCAA sanctions. Indiana hired him anyway, without a second thought, because deep down they only care about winning, just like they always have.

When he got caught cheating again at Indiana, the fans pretended to be mortified, much like the wife of a philanderer who doesn’t care about her husband’s exploits until they become public knowledge, at which point she puts on a very good show of emotional distress for anyone who will listen.

Not that Sampson’s crimes were all that great. Too many phone calls to recruits? This is now a fireable offense? One of the babbling bubbleheads on the Big Ten network made a very poignant Freudian slip when he inadvertently referred to “NCAA instigators” (when he meant to say “NCAA investigators”) while discussing the issue.

If Sampson was even a marginally sympathetic figure, this would be held high as yet another example of the NCAA’s overbearing dictatorship. But he isn’t, and because of that no one in Bloomington or through the Big Ten is going to miss him.

And if Hoosier Nation were a sympathetic figure, I might be signing on to this blog to cry that there’s not necessarily anything wrong with just wanting to win. That is, as long as you’re at least honest about it. Which Indiana isn’t. Never has been. And the loathing of the Hoosiers carries on to yet another regime.