My Thursday column arguing that Indiana is looking the other way in the Kelvin Sampson phone-gate scandal because the IU coach is building a winning program did not sit well with Hoosier Nation. My in-box was filled with Hoosier Hysteria.
Some excerpts:
Chris wrote, "John, you’re an absolute idiot. The only thing people in Indiana need to hold their noses for is the foul smell that comes from the state to the south. Are you trying to tell me that Kentucky never got in any kind of NCAA trouble . . . back when they were actually good?"
Dustin wrote, ". . . Is the IU nation happy with the events that have transpired with the phone calls? No, and no will tell you they are. I can however tell you that UK is a national laughingstock on how you treated a coach like Tubby Smith."
Neil wrote, "Seems funny that such comments would come from the home of the (without doubt) dirtiest college basketball program in the history of the NCAA. I am 52 and a long memory."
Chris B. wrote, "Phone calls vs. playing players, racism, academic fraud and a lush for a coach! Give me a break!!!"
Derek, a U of L fan, wrote, ". . . while today’s article does speak the truth, I think it’s a bit hypocritical for anyone who covers UK to talk about another fan base as willing to look away while they’re winning. Kentucky has a long and checkered past with the NCAA ya know."
Scott wrote, "Can you seriously argue that it "stinks" worse in Indiana than it has in KY?"
Ben wrote, "I hope you like Lexington because this is the kind of article that keeps you from getting looks at big-time jobs. This article is not thought provoking (to your audience), it’s not even newsworthy, this is all dated information that happens to be relevant because a game is going to be played and with imminent defeat you have to stroke the ego of an entire fan base that it is in complete dismay over how pathetic the condition of the progam is."
Rich wrote, "That is the pot calling the kettle black."
Jim wrote, "I don’t think Lexington has any right to take shots at IU, fact or fiction. Have you forgotten the fact that Kentucky has used professional players since the 1920s?"
S.H. wrote, "Hello, Pot. This is Kettle."
Andy wrote, "I certainly don’t want to debate the facts as you’ve laid them out. Most of what you said is dead-on accurate. Some of it is overblown. But really, you write for the Lexington Herald-Leader. That’s Lexington as in KY. Home of UK. That is the school that had Adolph Rupp, possibly the biggest racist and coach during the death penalty, and Eddie Sutton, coach during the Chris Mills incident. UK players almost never leave for the NBA because they don’t want to take a pay cut."
Matt wrote, "This was quite possibly the worst article ever written. Congratulations on making a fool of yourself."
Perry wrote, "As an IU fan, I really got a laugh out of your article, but then I had to stop holding my nose and send you an e-mail. Yes, like most IU fans, I was extremely disappointed by the phone call violations and the problem may ultimately lead to a coaching change. But I’m really astounded anyone in Lexington would notice any of this happening after so many decades of holding your noses, as well as covering your eyes and ears."
Marc wrote, "Were you looking when Kentucky was the most corrupt team in basketball? Guess not. Or is it selective amnesia? He who is without sin, has just written a nasty editorial."
Rob wrote, "Your story was pointless, boringly rehashed out of other reporter’s stories and lacked any original content."
Aaron wrote, "With all of the cheating an turmoil that the University of Kentucky has done over the course of history, you are gonna ride Sampson and IU on some phone calls? Get a life man, it was phone calls! Seriously, how does committing a few extra phone calls really give him that big of an advantage?"
Evan wrote, "Eddie Sutton and Adolph Rupp. UK doesn’t mind looking the other way either."
Bill wrote, "Does Fed-Ex ring a bell." (It was actually Emery.)
Sean wrote, "I compare this article to O.J. Simpson giving a speech on morality. Give me a break."
Dave wrote, "Nothing else going on in Lexingtonland that might be a tad more current? How about a nice story about how well Tubby Smith is doing in Minnesota? Ooooh, I get it. You’re just trying to get the excuses in place in case the Wildcats get beat in Bloomington on Saturday."
Twilly wrote, "Hang in there, maybe after IU HAMMERS UK Saturday you can write a column about the rims being too high or the lighting not being right."
Josh wrote, "With greats such as Ralph Beard, Eddie Sutton and Hal Mumme, I am surprised you’d go there."
Scott wrote, "Nice regurgitated article today. Tomorrow you can detail the past NCAA violations of UK?"
Michael wrote, "If I’m not mistaken, you guys got the death penalty for a season for what your coach did in the fifties, and you named your freaking arena after the guy."
There were a few like this one:
John wrote, "I thought your article was poorly written and that you are not in command of the facts. If you knew ANYTHING about IU, you would know that a substantial number of Alumni and those connected with the University are truly bothered by Kelvin Sampson’s behavior."
There was at least one positive response:
Debroah from Champaign, Illinois, wrote, "The Indiana article was clear, accurate and on target. Good for you for getting it right."
Other than the "UK’s worse" theme, many e-mails disagreed with factual points in the column. Many said it was Senderoff, not Sampson, who claimed he did not speak on the three-way calls, though recruits and parents heard him speak. Others wanted to point out that assistant Ray McCallum, a friend of Eric Gordon, Sr.’s, was on Sampson staff at Oklahoma. And the video coordinator was not the head coach of Gordon’s AAU team, but an assistant.
John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky and graduate of UK, he covered UK football for 13 seasons before being promoted to columnist in 2000. He lives in Lexington with his wife and two sons. You can e-mail him at jclay@herald-leader.com.
I think it’s amusing that so many Indianians read the Herald-Leader.
Senderoff was made a scapegoat, pushed aside much like Dwayne Casey was.
Not that I disagree with the other Chris’ emails, but I don’t send hate mail. Maybe I need a new name to sign these blog comments with.
–JohnClayFanboy
This is ludicrous. The IU fans almost make it sound like the Herald-Leader and UK are cohorts.
Just because UK had an issue almost 20 years ago does not imply the local newspaper cannot report on IU improprieties.
Seems like a defense mechanism from a guilt-filled fan base.
hey john, you shouldn’t feel bad or take any of those comments from IU fanatics seriously (not that you are).
if anything you should feel good about yourself and how just a little article can ignite an entire fan base with more passion than they’ve had since that keith smart shot.
not that i can blame those in indiana for needing something to get excited about. i’ve been to indiana and all i can say is BORING…
Your article was actually less critical than Grant Wahl’s column in Sports Illustrated on Nov. 12th. I guess Wahl can be considered “unbiased” since he doesn’t live in a rival state.
I find it interesting that so many Hoosiers focus on the telephone calls and forget about Saint Bobby going all Sprewell on his players. Sometimes, I wish Joe B would have slugged that fat b—— after he slapped him in 1974.
As I recall - UK paid the penalties for NCAA violations.
Sounds like the IU Nation want the same treatment.
Way to stir up some stinky Indiana folks, John! I’m sure the responses you receive (whether they are positive or negative) just fuel the fire as a columnist! WELL DONE and keep up the prodding (after all, since we don’t have much of a basketball program to tout at the moment, we might as well take shots at others who can sympathize with us, like Indiana)!
I love the fact that the ONLY positive email referenced was from someone who lives in Champaign. She also probably thinks Illinois is an elite basketball program.
Also, Scott, the article was linked on IU’s Rivals.com site. Normally IU fans steer clear of delusional Big Blue propaganda (like Clay’s article).
I hope IU wins by 50 tomorrow, and that Billy Clyde gets (yet another) drunk driving arrest after drowning his sorrows.
What is funny from all the fans is the deflection of what happened.
No UK fans haven’t forgotten what happened to us and we aren’t the only school ever to do such.
I am sure IU got away with some stuff that no one knows about, just like a lot of other schools.
But what the IU fans all fail to realize is that Sampson was warned not to do it again, cause he got in trouble as he was leaving OU.
It was a point of emphasis in their contract talks.
Yet he disregarded all that and has done the same thing AGAIN after he got in trouble before and being told to stop.
IU fans on this one seem to be like the battered wife at home. Yeah I know he hit me again but he loves me and he says he will change.
Not comparable to what the players in the late 40’s early 50’s did or what happened while Eddie was here. Those guys didn’t have a pattern of history that points to that kind of behavior.
Sampson did and IU fans should feel disrespected and lied to rather than pointing to those south who had problems and took care of them instead of keeping them and defending them.
I agree with Scott; why are the IU fans reading the Herald, who knew so many of them could read? Then the one IU fan questioned why we named the court after Rupp. Give me a break! How many coaches back then had the same mentality as Rupp; a lot! Look at the man’s record, duh. Why isn’t there court named after Knight? No it’s named Assembly Hall Look at his mentality. The two are similar.
What are IU fans whining about? John Clay was stating facts and making assumptions.
It’s a fact that Sampson had wrong doings at Oklahoma (promised not to repeat them again) and went to Indiana and he did the same things. YES.. they were phone calls! A previous entry said “what can a few extra phone calls do? Apparently something, because the NCAA would not have imposed a “dead” period when phone calls CANNOT be made to potential recruits. IU people need to quit bringing up stuff that happened at UK YEARS AGO! You just have to throw a stone back don’t ya? All Clay was doing was stating facts, it’s not like he made it up. Yeah, KY is somewhat down this year, but get your laughs now because you won’t be laughing in a year or two when are back among the ELITE. KY fans did not do anything to TUBBY, he did it to himself. Two straight #8 Seeds and a Second Round exit from the NCAA last year. A #8 seed is acceptable for UK’s standards and he was not getting top tier players to commit to KY. That just goes to show you we are not cheating and if we were, then the North Carolinas, Indianas and Dukies are doing it too, cause they pay more to get them to commit. Just to end it, Sampson is a cheater along with Roy Williams and the NFL’s own Bill Belichek. Just don’t insert KY into a cheaters field all by themselves because they everywhere, most just dont get caught. UK 77 IU 69
Give Me Your Handrew –
The folks in Champaign have taken to calling themselves “The Program”, because they have the most wins in the NCAA in the past 4 seasons. You don’t get to just call yourself the program because you had one incredible season (which is especially true for those who know what incredible means), two good season and one mediocre season in a span of 4 years.
I need to correct a couple things in my last entry. I was so steamed that I rushed through my entry and did not check it before I sent it. I meant to say that John was stating facts, NOT making assumptions. John is a Class A writer and does not write a bunch of nonsense. I also meant to say that KY fans dont was to stand for #6,7, and 8 seeds. We are used to getting 1,2 and 3 seeds. IU Fired Mike Davis because IU fell below their “STANDARDS” and N.C. did the same thing, not once but twice. SO, dont bash KY fans and say they ran their coach out of town.
KY standards are like 96-98 when they went 36-2, 32-4 and 35-5 which equals out to 103-11, now that is “THE PROGRAM” Lets review this, KY lost 11 games in 3 years… yes 3 years !! They average 11 loses a season TUBBY’s last 3.. Now that is UNACCEPTABLE for KY standards. They wont mind it in Minnesota, because they have not done anything in…. geez, its been so long I cant recall.
Come back and complain tomorrow whn KY spanks IU’s rear in that cracker box arena. I mean HALL.
With all due respect to Mr.Clay, I don’t understand why this was written.
There was no new news in the piece, as this is just stuff that was rehashed from when it all actually happened.
Seemed like a cheap-shot hatchet job on IU fans at the opportune moment, and nothing more.
Unless my memory is incorrect, Coach Knight is last coach to have a team go undefeated and win the national title. Knight has also never been investigated by the NCAA for any type of violations. That is something in itself with the win-at-any-cost mentality in college sports.