What a Mess at IU!

Today was butchered from 8am on. If Greenspan had control, this would have been done at 8am, announced via a press conference and the team would have been collectively at practice preparing for Northwestern. But no... rumor central ran rampant from 8am to 7:30pm.

But at least 1 thing happened correctly today... Sampson is GONE!

Now it is time to clean up the mess. Where to start?

First start with firing Greenspan. He took a chance by giving a cheater a second opportunity. I had issues with that decision at the time, but was willing to give Sampson a chance as long as he was on a short leash and those that made the hiring decision would be on the hook if anything went bad. As soon as Sampson cheated and lied, Greenspan should have paid the price. If that wasn't enough to warrant getting rid of Rick, the way today was handled should scream for the need to remove Greenspan. From stringing this along all day and finally dealing with the resignation via a leak to Andy Katz, to not being able to adequately convince the players that they don't run the University, Greenspan showed a lack of institutional control. Not a good thing in the eyes of the NCAA.

Second, leave the 6 players who didn't attend practice behind tomorrow. Win or lose, the 7 kids that came to practice today should travel and play. They understand that the name on the Uniform is Indiana University. Not Sampson U. Kudos to Eric Gordon showing the maturity the other 6 did not have. The other 6 can spend Saturday reflecting on what the man they support so ardently did to them. He cheated and lied, then took a $750,000 payout and ran from them. What are the 6 of them getting from Sampson? Absolutely nothing. If they want back on the team, Sunday they can beg for their positions from the 7 that are committed and if they are sincere, they should be welcomed back and enjoy the rest of the season playing for a Big Ten Championship, a Big Ten Tourney Championship and an NCAA Championship. If they want to continue to support the lying cheater, then DJ can start preparing for the NBA draft where he will lose all of the positives he has achieved so far this year. The other 5 can figure where they want to go and sit out next year.

Third, McRobbie better start preparing now for the NCAA hearings this summer. Getting rid of Sampson will help, but the lack of institutional control coming out of Greenspan, and the Compliance Office is going to require a lot of fancy footwork if the principles are not removed. In fact if Greenspan and the compliance director remain, McRobbie might as well start planning for a lengthy post season ban and probably a TV ban. That is going to hurt and make a difference in item #4.

Fourth, start working on a short list of potential coaches. Yes McRobbie, you should be looking at guys like Thad Matta, Scott Drew, Tony Bennett, Brad Brownell, and Sean Miller. However, none of these guys may be willing to take a chance on coming to IU if there is the chance of Post season and TV bans. If that happens, McRobbie better come up with a plan for settling for another option. I will throw this out in this scenario, a Dane Fife may be the best bet. He would probably be willing to coach through a 2-3 year TV/Post season ban and in 5 years could be as good as those names above. Yes I don't think he is ready yet, but if IU gets hammered by the NCAA, he may be the best bet.

Finally, IU needs to get out of the spotlight for a while. Let the players make a run and get back in the limelight for their on court play. Nothing else should get in the media.

Good Riddance Sampson. I hope you enjoy your $750,000. You really blew the best opportunity of your life over phone calls. Either your stupidity or arrogance got the best of you. What a great country we live in though when you can get $750,000 for lying and cheating.

Good luck to those that stick with the program the rest of the year. And if Dakich needs extra players, I have no doubt he can fill a roster from the HPER.