News release: February 17, 2008. Bloomington, IN.
Coach Sampson has called together a group of representatives from various media outlets, his current team and their families, professors, tutors, trainers and counselors who have provided much needed support to these essential team members, and several superdelegate fans.
Coach takes the mike.
Well, (takes a moment) it’s been a week of work, I tell you.
Crowd laughs appreciatively
But I have a lot to say, and it needs out now. I’ve made some mistakes. I stepped aside of rules that made no sense to me- rules that haven’t kept pace with technology- rules that don’t let me do my job to the best of my ability- I just stepped right over those rules, thinking it’d get us the IU teams IU wants. (stops for a moment, pinches the top of his nose, then looks back) Seems I missed the vital ingredient that gives the Hoosiers their special flavor- the squeaky clean flavor. I lost that for this team, and I will do whatever it takes to get it back. Indiana Basketball needs to be the epitome of straight-shooting sportsmanship. We have to be.
applause from the crowd
Sampson waves his hand for silence, indicating he has more to say.
Another mistake is that I underestimated the loyalty that courses through the IU Fans’ veins. (a few whooots and hollars) Rather than throwing a coach who has made a brand new IU mistake to the wolves, these IU Fans have the integrity and stamina to stand by their coach and together, make it right. (more cheering) I think about the emotional and physical toll we’ve had to go through in all this, and still, we have become a TEAM. Our team has become a team.
Now our team needs your team. With the resources at our fingertips we can create a recruiting system above reproach, we can maintain enough accountability and transparency to guarantee Hoosier Basketball’s legacy will thrive.
And so the people of hoosierville linked arm in arm to assist Coach Sampson in creating the nations first collaborative recruiting system (within the narrow boundaries of NCAA regs). They spent summer evenings watching Hoosiers and the history of Indiana University Basketball, studying essentials including the ethics of redshirts and walk-ons, the integral nature of high graduation rates, true sportsmanship and excellent D.
This type of scenario could illustrate a way to ride this crisis without altering our intrinsic identity, or requiring another start from scratch.
