For the guys at In The Agora, ESPN is announcing that Kelvin Sampson of Oklahoma has been hired to replace Mike Davis as basketball coach at Indiana. This is a surprising choice, I really thought they'd hire Randy Wittman and keep it in the family. But it's a good choice. Sampson is a very good recruiter and a very good coach. He's won over 70% of his games at Oklahoma and led them to the final four once. His teams play tough, hard-nosed defensive basketball so that should translate well to the Big Ten. All in all, a pretty good choice I think.
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As a current OU student and a huge sports fan in general, I am sad to see Kelvin go, but I am happy that he is now at a school which will focus on basketball with great fan support and tradition. OU is and always will be a football school, although we have had some real success in basketball it will always come in second.
Sampson is a very good coach. He will do well at Indiana.
I wonder who ou will get to replace him... Hey maybe Bobby Knight would take the job, then Tech could hire Mike Davis!
At first I didn't think this was a very good signing, because he hasn't accomplished a whole lot. And what of his recruiting? I can't think of a single NBA player who went to Oklahoma, but several that went to Oklahoma St. I did like him in the few opportunities he had to shine, so I'm starting to think perhaps he was held back by coaching at a football school.
Isn't it curious - just as OU is about to be charged with recruiting violations because Sampson and his staff made 500 illegal (by NCAA rules) phone calls to recruits, he jumps ship. What an honorable fellow.