If Fans Have Their Way, IU’s Sampson Will Be Gone

By Ryan Fagan
Sporting News’ Ryan Fagan is traveling the Hoosier State, watching every D-I team in Indiana over 12 days. He’ll write about all things Hoosier Culture for The Sporting Blog.
This I know: If Indiana winds up keeping Kelvin Sampson, the administration risks severely alienating its fan base. I’ve been all over the state in the past few days, and this situation is all anyone wants to talk about.
And they all share one opinion: Kelvin must go.
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It’s gotten to the point where, whether he did or did not lie to the university and to the NCAA investigators, he’s lost the fans’ trust. The coach at Indiana is not just the Hoosiers’ coach, he’s the fans’ coach. He’s their coach. He’s their father figure. He’s their rock, their trust. He just cannot be a cheater. I can’t tell you how many folks have told me that they had their suspicions when Sampson was hired because of his previous brushes with the NCAA but wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. They wanted Indiana to be his fresh start, his chance to walk the straight and narrow.
Like Fox Mulder, they wanted to believe.
But, as the events of the past week have proven to me, their leash is short. And now it’s choking Sampson.
And if (OK, when) Sampson is let go, I have the perfect replacement. But now is not the time for that.↵