CBS Sports this morning is reporting that Indiana University men’s basketball players are threatening to boycott the remainder
of the season if coach Kelvin Sampson is forced out. Quoting unidentified sources, CBS Sports reported that players and IU
Athletic Director Rick Greenspan had a heated exchange during a meeting last night.
According to the sources, after Greenspan informed players D.J. White, Eric Gordon, Kyle Taber, Lance Stemler and Adam Ahlfeld of his decision to fire or suspend Sampson, he called a meeting with the entire team in an attempt to prepare them for today’s official announcement that Sampson would not be on the sideline for the Hoosiers’ weekend game at Northwestern. Before Greenspan finished his statements, the sources told CBS that one of the IU players stood and insisted “if Sampson ain't coaching, we ain't playing” and that Greenspan responded with what he thought was a rhetorical question.
“Greenspan asked if he should just cancel the whole season,” one source told CBS Sports. “And the player told him, ‘We don’t care what you do. But if Sampson ain’t coaching, we ain’t playing.’ And then they just walked out.”
Several Indianapolis TV stations aired footage of disgruntled players leaving the meeting. Those players refused to talk, several of them-including D.J. White and Lance Stemler-pulling hoods over their heads and faces.
It is not clear what IU would do if the players boycotted, but with three road and two home games remaining-not to mention tournament games-it would be a financial and marketing nightmare. A player boycott would also be bad for Indianapolis, which is hosting this year’s Big Ten tournament and is counting on the red hot Hoosiers to drive ticket sales.
For more coverage on the fallout, read the upcoming print edition of IBJ.
According to the sources, after Greenspan informed players D.J. White, Eric Gordon, Kyle Taber, Lance Stemler and Adam Ahlfeld of his decision to fire or suspend Sampson, he called a meeting with the entire team in an attempt to prepare them for today’s official announcement that Sampson would not be on the sideline for the Hoosiers’ weekend game at Northwestern. Before Greenspan finished his statements, the sources told CBS that one of the IU players stood and insisted “if Sampson ain't coaching, we ain't playing” and that Greenspan responded with what he thought was a rhetorical question.
“Greenspan asked if he should just cancel the whole season,” one source told CBS Sports. “And the player told him, ‘We don’t care what you do. But if Sampson ain’t coaching, we ain’t playing.’ And then they just walked out.”
Several Indianapolis TV stations aired footage of disgruntled players leaving the meeting. Those players refused to talk, several of them-including D.J. White and Lance Stemler-pulling hoods over their heads and faces.
It is not clear what IU would do if the players boycotted, but with three road and two home games remaining-not to mention tournament games-it would be a financial and marketing nightmare. A player boycott would also be bad for Indianapolis, which is hosting this year’s Big Ten tournament and is counting on the red hot Hoosiers to drive ticket sales.
For more coverage on the fallout, read the upcoming print edition of IBJ.
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This is the same thing that happened with Mike Davis and Greenspan shouldn't back down. Yank their scholarships quickly and see how they feel.
Is there a person with the intestinal fortitude to tell these fine 22 year old men if they don't want to play, hit the road and by the way....drop a check for the total cost of your education in the box at the exit!
IU needs to bring the prestige back into our basketball program. Enough is enough!
Haven't we learned our lesson about basketball inmates running the IU asylum? It happened with Knight; then the post-Knight players who insisted on a hire that gave us the short Mike David era, which begat the even shorter, and short-sighted Kelvin Sampson era, which...well there you have it.
Players, take a hike, return the scholarships, then sell insurance or shoot for mediocre NBA careers. Who cares about that product any more, anyway? While you're leaving, keep the door open for Sampson, Greenspan, the bumpkin trustees who signed off on the Sampson hire, and finally, Adam Herbert and his ridiculous red jumpsuit. He can't dress, couldn't run a major university, couldn't hire an honest coach, and can't and won't man up to the mess he made.
When this smoke clears, I hope my alma mater can refocus on its mission of education, restore its lost academic luster, and restore a winning basketball program that's fun, out of the news-news, is the talk of the sporting-news, and graduates its players.
Yikes!