Kelvin Sampson is a jackass
And also a terrible coach. You guessed it, I'm still not over Eric Gordon being honest and keeping his word, all while backing out of his verbal commitment to Illinois. But, I found this little jewel from Kelvin Sampson thanks to Mark Tupper, where I get almost all of my Illini news: "...[Sampson] did tell me yesterday that he is not interested in players who have committed elsewhere. 'That's not what we're about' he said." That was from some Louisville paper.
Nothing like completely denying an obvious fact here. But honestly, why would he have interest in a player who has committed elsewhere? Perhaps he is retarded and was unaware of every single sports source reporting that Eric Gordon had committed to Illinois. Maybe his retardism made him think that he was talking to a different Eric Gordon. Maybe he thought Eric Gordon, Sr. had committed to Illinois.
So let's look at Sampson the coach. (Note: all of this information is coming from wikipedia, and yes I know it could be fake, but I don't care, it's too much work to find validated records) Now I'm looking solely at Oklahoma University stuff here, as I don't care what he did before. And neither should you, unless you hate him more than I do. Apparently Coach Sampson was pretty decent at OU. At one point he coached the team to 8 consecutive 20-win seasons. That's pretty good. I'm not even being sarastic. Not that the Big 12 is a conference of basketball powerhouses; but still, 20 wins is 20 wins.
So, Coach of the Year in his first season there, NCAA tournament 10 of 11 postseasons, with the 11th being an NIT. Sweet 16 in 1999, Final Four 2002, Elite Eight 2003. What year is this? Oh, that's right, it's 2006. So, he's not been able to capitalize in recruiting players, or can't develop any players he's recruiting. What else has he done at Oklahoma?
Why look at this! More than 550 illegal calls made by Sampson and his staff to 17 different recruits. He's barred from off-campus recruiting for a year for that? What a bunch of losers. He doesn't have interest in players who have committed elsewhere. What else do they want from him?
Also, he has a low rate of graduation, probably from all of the pros he's developed, right? What? Eduardo Najera is the only Sooner in the NBA? (Correct me if I'm wrong on that, if you want to) Sampson argues that doesn't take into consideration players who transfer or don't graduate in 6 years. So, he's not graduating players, he's not sending them to the NBA, and they may be transferring. Solid program with classy players.
Oh yeah, the recruiting violations occurred when he was president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and presided over the Ethics Summit. Probably should have mentioned that before the recruiting violations.
Now, let's compare Sampson, to, say, a good coach, like, oh, I don't know, Bruce Weber. Weber has never coached a team to a record less than .500 or less. Also, he was presented the task of turning around a terrible team, in SIU. He took them from 5th in the MVC to 1st, twice, going to the NCAA tournament both seasons. The players he brought in there are still performing well, as they've been in the tournament every year since he left.
Then, as we all know, Weber came to Illinois, took an underachieving team that had an underachieving coach and turned them into a force. Not to mention 2 Big Ten Championships. Oh, and that National Championship game, I don't remember Sampson having any of those.
I'm so glad Illinois chose not to hire shitty Kelvin Sampson as their coach when both Bill Self was hired and when Weber was hired. We would probably be pulling recruits, illegally of course, and probably underachieving. But hey, if you want to play for a guy who hasn't developed a guard at the NBA level (Hollis Price was the best shot they had, and we all know where he is now. Nowhere.) and are ok with not winning enough, then, by all means, go for it. But be ready for Illinois to come in and beat the living shit out of you.
Nothing like completely denying an obvious fact here. But honestly, why would he have interest in a player who has committed elsewhere? Perhaps he is retarded and was unaware of every single sports source reporting that Eric Gordon had committed to Illinois. Maybe his retardism made him think that he was talking to a different Eric Gordon. Maybe he thought Eric Gordon, Sr. had committed to Illinois.
So let's look at Sampson the coach. (Note: all of this information is coming from wikipedia, and yes I know it could be fake, but I don't care, it's too much work to find validated records) Now I'm looking solely at Oklahoma University stuff here, as I don't care what he did before. And neither should you, unless you hate him more than I do. Apparently Coach Sampson was pretty decent at OU. At one point he coached the team to 8 consecutive 20-win seasons. That's pretty good. I'm not even being sarastic. Not that the Big 12 is a conference of basketball powerhouses; but still, 20 wins is 20 wins.
So, Coach of the Year in his first season there, NCAA tournament 10 of 11 postseasons, with the 11th being an NIT. Sweet 16 in 1999, Final Four 2002, Elite Eight 2003. What year is this? Oh, that's right, it's 2006. So, he's not been able to capitalize in recruiting players, or can't develop any players he's recruiting. What else has he done at Oklahoma?
Why look at this! More than 550 illegal calls made by Sampson and his staff to 17 different recruits. He's barred from off-campus recruiting for a year for that? What a bunch of losers. He doesn't have interest in players who have committed elsewhere. What else do they want from him?
Also, he has a low rate of graduation, probably from all of the pros he's developed, right? What? Eduardo Najera is the only Sooner in the NBA? (Correct me if I'm wrong on that, if you want to) Sampson argues that doesn't take into consideration players who transfer or don't graduate in 6 years. So, he's not graduating players, he's not sending them to the NBA, and they may be transferring. Solid program with classy players.
Oh yeah, the recruiting violations occurred when he was president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and presided over the Ethics Summit. Probably should have mentioned that before the recruiting violations.
Now, let's compare Sampson, to, say, a good coach, like, oh, I don't know, Bruce Weber. Weber has never coached a team to a record less than .500 or less. Also, he was presented the task of turning around a terrible team, in SIU. He took them from 5th in the MVC to 1st, twice, going to the NCAA tournament both seasons. The players he brought in there are still performing well, as they've been in the tournament every year since he left.
Then, as we all know, Weber came to Illinois, took an underachieving team that had an underachieving coach and turned them into a force. Not to mention 2 Big Ten Championships. Oh, and that National Championship game, I don't remember Sampson having any of those.
I'm so glad Illinois chose not to hire shitty Kelvin Sampson as their coach when both Bill Self was hired and when Weber was hired. We would probably be pulling recruits, illegally of course, and probably underachieving. But hey, if you want to play for a guy who hasn't developed a guard at the NBA level (Hollis Price was the best shot they had, and we all know where he is now. Nowhere.) and are ok with not winning enough, then, by all means, go for it. But be ready for Illinois to come in and beat the living shit out of you.
posted by Jtrouble at 2:11 PM
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