Wednesday, February 13, 2008

"I shall return..."



I know many people are against this, and it has been suggested so many times in the last half-decade that this would otherwise be considered beating a dead horse, but in light of the actions of Kelvin Sampson, it almost seems to me like Divine Intervention has created the perfect scenario for the return of Robert Montgomery Knight.

When Sampson was hired, his resume of Final Four appearances, numerous 20-win seasons, Big 12 winning history, and Coach of the Year awards, not to mention taking us to the tournament, led many to believe that the possibility of Knight's return was dead.

However, this has turned into yet another example of why you should never say never. I truly believe rehiring Knight is the best, and possibly the only, way for IU to avert a serious crisis.

Sampson would never be fired or dismissed for anything other than breaking rules. He is simply too good a coach and gets too good of results. But now he is really, really in deep. Even if he is innocent of the alleged violations, trying to finish out the season under this cloud of doubt is futile.

And because the source of all of these problems is the one thing that Knight had a sterling reputation on: following the rules, dismissing Sampson and bringing in the most untouchable coach in NCAA history in terms of NCAA rules violations would be a step in the right direction.

Not to mention The General isn't coaching anymore, thanks to a well-timed mid-season exit. And he already knows there is some excellent fishing in Southern Indiana. Plus I hear the HPER is looking for some extra people to teach H105: Bass Fishing next fall.

He could come in to replace both Greenspan and Sampson, a la Tom Osborne.

In the immortal words of Princess Leia: "Help us Bobby Knight, you're our only hope!"

8 comments:

Young Swole said...

Stop living in the past Cicero, Bobby Knight is STILL not walking through that door, unless that door is a hunting field in Minnesota somewhere

BK said...

Get rid of the liar and cheater and bring back the man who bullied college students, kicked and choked players, assaulted a police officer, berated school officials, attacked an assistant coach, choked the IU sports information director, and now walked out on his team in the middle of the year.

Sounds great to me.

BK said...

I think IU would be better off without Sampson anyway. Sean Miller or Scott Drew in Bloomington would not make me happy.

Andrew Adamson said...

Zero Percent chance of this happening cicero. Stop dreaming.

Unknown said...

like I just told Illiniwek...no one seems to give a shit about the house that was bought for reggie bush, or florida state handing out answers to tests. we're here talking about PHONE CALLS??? seriously?? phone calls. i feel like allen iverson.

BK said...

While phone calls may not seem like a huge deal, there is a bigger issue with Sampson. IU hired a coach who was a known cheater. Then he proceeded to cheat some more while on probation and then lie about it to his own school.

Cicero's beloved Bob Knight even said a few years ago that he'd rather listen to Saddam talk about civil rights than Sampson talk about ethics.

He's not even worth it.. he is not that great.

Young Swole said...

illiniwek said it right. its not the phone calls that matter, its the fact that he lied about doing it after already been sanctioned for the same thing. sampson is a grimeball, point blank.

lord knows why the reggie bush thing hasn't been investigated yet, but then again USC is the NCAA's glory team so no surprise there

Unknown said...

all this media, and oversight, and investigation. damn it. damn it all. it has ruined baseball records and happiness, and college football (see: SMU), and now even to the deepest dregs of the basketball recruiting world. phone calls. c'mon people. *sigh.