Kelvin is the right temperature for IU
To understand the head basketball coaching position at Indiana University, you have to understand that basketball is woven into the cultural fabric of Indiana. It ranks third behind God and family in importance to many of the state’s citizens, so it’s no easy task to lead a flagship team. Just ask Coach Norman Dale of the Hickory Huskers.
But it is possible, as Branch McCracken and Bob Knight have proven, and Kelvin Sampson – reported to be Indiana’s new leader – appears perfectly poised to fill the role. Sampson’s 1-3-1 motion offense, gritty defense and relentless recruiting will excite the Hoosier fan base. Hoosiers understand the game’s particulars like few others and whether a coach runs a motion offense, like Bob Knight, or a set offense, like Mike Davis and most of the NBA, matters to those who take the sport seriously.
For Coach Sampson, his style has paid dividends. He possesses the highest winning percentage in Oklahoma history (.721), 8 straight 20-win seasons, and has won more Big 12 games than any coach in the conference’s history. His team has played in post-season tournaments in each of his 11 seasons at OU. All of this, it must be remembered, was done at a school not considered a basketball power before his arrival. It’s no wonder that he has twice been named the national coach of the year.
But beyond wins and offensive schemes, Hoosiers are culturally connected to the sport and so the coach must be as well. Jason Whitlock writes about this in a splendid ESPN column that argues the IU coach must have “unbridled love all things Hoosier, even the hokey, old-school traditions.” For Coach Sampson, this doesn’t appear to be a problem. A Sooners Illustrated article quotes him as saying, “I truly love Oklahoma, but Indiana is a program that all coaches hope to coach at one day, and once they offered it was just one of those programs that I couldn’t turn down.”
But for a state so passionate you can expect some naysayers and they will undoubtedly point to a three-year investigation by the NCAA into recruiting violations at Oklahoma, including 550 illegal calls made by Sampson and his staff to potential recruits. Although the NCAA decision on its investigation isn’t expected until April, Oklahoma voluntarily put itself on a two year probation that limited scholarships and salary increases.
If this cloud of controversy weren’t enough for detractors, they might point to a subpar graduation rate. One year the official school graduation rate measured a frightening zero percent. But as Steve Wieberg writes in USA Today, the reporting methods are highly flawed for not taking transfers into account, or those who don’t graduate in six years.
Sampson does not come to IU squeeky clean, but no coach who’s been doing it for 20 years can. The bottom line is that Sampson is a proven winner whose style of play, consistent success, and love for Indiana will mesh well with the Hoosier faithful. Indiana basketball is back in a big way.
