Indiana University Head Men's Basketball Hiring Press Conference
3/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 29, 2006
PRESIDENT ADAM W. HERBERT
Opening Statement:
Thank you very much and good afternoon. The philosopher Goethe once said "that you must conquer and rule or lose and serve, triumph or suffer, be the hammer of the anvil." True to its strong, historic tradition of excellence in athletics, particularly in basketball, today, Indiana University is very proud to announce a new and exciting appointment in the athletics department. This appointment reflects our determination to be the hammer, rather than the anvil in Big Ten basketball competition.
Now before Rick Greenspan introduces the newest member of the Hoosier Athletics family, I would like to make a few comments about the search process for the new Indiana University basketball coach. Our overarching goal is to develop a winning basketball program that reflects the fundamental values of Indiana University. We have searched for a coach that will ring in a new era of IU basketball. I am fully aware that this is a very significant challenge.
I strongly believe that our new coach is the right man to maintain and build upon IU's long and storied traditions. IU basketball is an elite program that plays by the rules and graduates its student-athletes. There is no question that wins and losses are very important to the Hoosier family. Equally important to us are very high academic expectations and the core character values of the University.
In that regard, Trustees Steve Ferguson and Jeff Cohen have joined with me in conducting an extensive analysis of the background of the coach we will introduce today. We have reviewed thoroughly the available information on all aspects of his career. We have looked at the recent NCAA investigation of the basketball program at Oklahoma University. We have interviewed the parties that are most knowledgeable about that case to better understand the issues and place the situation into the proper context. We have examined the graduation rates of Oklahoma University's basketball program. We have discussed with the coach his teaching philosophy, his academic expectations of student-athletes, and the organizational structure and support strategies that he has implemented to assure their academic success.
After reviewing all of this information and considering the totality of his high levels of performance over an entire professional career, and after engaging in several hours of candid and thorough conversations with him, we are convinced that our new coach understands fully and is determined to meet Indiana University's high overall expectations.
We are very impressed with his core values. We are equally impressed with the record of student achievement at his basketball program at OU. This record has received far too little attention. We are convinced that he is committed to building on IU's great traditions of athletic and academic excellence. I must point out, however, that the job of upholding these values will not be his alone. Indiana University basketball is part of a strong athletics department. Under the leadership of Rick Greenspan, the members of the athletics department must collectively work together to ensure that these expectations are met in each of our sports. Indiana University is committed to conducting intercollegiate athletics in a fashion that increases in the institution and strengthens connections with our alumni, students, faculty and the broader Hoosier community.
Finally, I would now like to comment on this search process from a broader university perspective. I am very proud of the manner in which Rick Greenspan has conducted this search for our new basketball coach. The search was very thorough and comprehensive in its scope. It had a strong focus on attracting a coach with the extensive experience needed to lead a complex, major basketball program with national stature. It focused on a coach with a consistent and proven track record of producing winning teams that play the high quality basketball expected by Indiana University fans. It reflected a commitment to the fulfillment of our overall values including the strong diversity commitment on which I, the trustees and this administration place a very high priority.
Rick has sought input from a campus advisory committee and maintained communications with the chair of the University Athletics Committee. Although we were not able to contact all of our former players, Rick and his staff have reached out to a representative sample of the former players to seek their thoughts on the qualifications we should seek.
He also sought input from highly successful current and former basketball coaches throughout the nation, and from colleagues in the NBA that gave us a level of information about coaching reputations, styles and abilities that only those in the profession would know. Rick has kept me informed on developments throughout the search process to ensure consistency with all of our institutional expectations. As a result of this extensive outreach effort, and with the help of our search consultants, we were able to limit our actual contacts and focus on the coach we wanted.
Because of the level of experience and reputation we sought in our next basketball coach, it was necessary to conduct this search in a highly confidential fashion. I am sure all of you will agree, especially those of you in the media, Rick did that extremely well. Not withstanding the many rumors that you may have heard or read, Rick has recommended to me, and this afternoon we have hired the coach we feel is the right match for Indiana University at this time. He will lead us to the level of excellence we expect in all aspects of our basketball program.
Finally, Rick and I deeply appreciate the many hours of consultation and participation in the due diligence process that Trustee President Steve Ferguson and Trustee Jeff Cohen devoted to this effort. I particularly appreciate the several hours they devoted to an interview of the coach that we will introduce in a few minutes. Their participation, input and support give me even greater confidence that we have chosen the right person to lead the IU basketball program.
Rick will now introduce to you a man that we respect deeply. After talking with him for almost eight hours last night and early this morning, as we finished talking last night around 2 a.m., I am convinced. Let me say that even more fervently, I am absolutely convinced that he will continue to elevate our basketball program to the levels of competitive excellence that all of you expect.
He will connect with the members of our IU family. To the members of the IU family, I want to make these very clear observations. The more you get to know our new coach, the greater the feelings of pride you will have that he has become one of us. You will love his values. The young men on his teams and the ones that he will recruit to our basketball program will excite you. You will be impressed with the preparation of his team every time they are on the court. You will love the aggressive defense his teams play. You will be impressed by his tactical skills. He has made very clear his determination that our players will do well academically and will graduate. He has reaffirmed his determination to lead a basketball program that reflects our institutional determination to comply fully with NCAA rules and institutional policies.
On all of these fronts, I am absolutely convinced that he will succeed. With the support of the entire IU family, all of you here today, and those that are watching the press conference around the country, the next decade will be one marked by the resurgence of Indiana University to the ranks of the very best basketball programs in America. Welcome to a new and exciting era of Indiana University basketball under the leadership of one of America's most outstanding coaches and teachers.
ATHLETICS DIRECTOR RICK GREENSPAN
Opening Statement:
Do we have some students over here? I told coach as we walked out, `Welcome to Indiana basketball.' Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining me in this historic building. We are concluding a laborious, extensive, inclusive, exhaustive search and screen process leading to the announcement of the Hoosier basketball coach. It is good to be seen again. I feel like I haven't been out in the air for a while. This process and selection generates strong, emotional and extremely diverse opinions. The Hoosier Nation and fans feel very strongly about their basketball program. Today, we announce the hiring of Kelvin Sampson. Coach Sampson has made a lifelong commitment to collegiate basketball and has served in many leadership positions. He is a former president of the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches). He is active in the community, is visible and approachable by the students, alumni and others. Coach has been a highly successful head coach with a combined record of 455 wins and 257 losses, and has averaged 23 wins per season during his 12 years at Oklahoma. He possesses a charismatic and energetic presence and will fully engage with you, students, faculty, staff, former players and the Hoosier Nation. His teams compete hard. They are well schooled in fundamentals and they beat the best. Coach Sampson will sign a seven-year contract with an average compensation of $1.5 million a year, which is competitive with similar institutions with parallel expectations of their programs. First-year compensation will be very similar to the level of his compensation at Oklahoma.
Before I introduce Coach, I would like to thank a few of the people that are here and have been really supportive during this process. First and foremost, I would like to thank my wife, Jenny, my family and I would like to spend some time with you again. My daughter Emily, and my son, Ben, is up at Butler playing Hoosier baseball, so he can't be with us. I would like to thank my counterpart, colleague and friend up at Oklahoma, Joe Castiglione, for his understanding, patience and his candor. I would like to thank Tim Fitzpatrick, my associate athletics director, my aide de camp, my friend and somebody who has done a terrific job in assisting me. The president, the trustees and Terri Smithson, who keeps me from getting in trouble. I would also like to ask the Sampson family here who have joined us to stand up and be recognized.
It is now my distinct pleasure to introduce the Hoosier basketball coach, Kelvin Sampson.
HEAD MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH Kelvin Sampson
Opening Statement:
The first thing that I want to do is recognize my family again. My wife Karen is my high school sweetheart and is my best friend in life, my daughter, Lauren, and my son, Kellen. You go through an incredible journey that is called a coaching career, the thing that sometimes gets forgotten is the most important thing that you have and that is your family. They have always been the most important thing to me. They have given me a thrill of a lifetime just for getting to be their dad and Karen's husband.
I want to say a very heartfelt thank you to President David Boren and Joe Castiglione, the Director of Athletics at the University of Oklahoma, and to my former players, former staff, all of our great fans and friends, I just want to thank them for allowing me to be their basketball coach for the last 12 years. They have given me the ride of a lifetime. It has been an unbelievable ride the last few years at Oklahoma. I just wanted to publicly thank them for allowing me to be their coach.
I just met with the team. I wanted you to know how therapeutic that was. I need to coach a team, and this team needs a coach. I told them that we really needed each other, especially right now. I came to Indiana for one reason. I think we can win championships at Indiana. I think back to being an outsider looking in and when you think about Indiana, you think about a place that has not just won championships, but has a championship tradition. Tradition is important. You can't create it. It just can't happen. It is something that has to happen over time. You go back to all the years and all the national championships that Indian has had, those people that paved the way, especially the coaches and the players. We have a lot of former players here. Those people are the reason why a guy like me gets an opportunity to come to a school like this to coach. Two things that I try to get my players to understand on a daily basis. There are two things that you can control in your life. That is your attitude and your effort. The ball isn't always going to go in, or as much as we think we are going to be able to guard or rebound when we would like to think that it will happen every possession, but the attitude and the effort will be the things we really get after them about. The number one thing we want to do at Indiana University is that we are all known for something. That something is going to be your identity. We have to have an identity. The number one thing we are going to create, first of all with our basketball program, not just our team, but our program is to create an identity. I was talking to D.J. White a little while ago. I said, `D.J., what is the number one thing that you want to do?' He gave me an answer that just warmed my heart. He said, `Coach, I want to win on the road.' I think that is where you have to have an identity. Your competitiveness, toughness and single-mindedness that you have a chance. An identity is something that follows you and you take with you wherever you go.
I appreciate Dr. Herbert, Jeff, Rick, Tim and all the great people I have been able to meet. I was telling Dr. Herbert that eight days ago, I didn't know anything about this.
This is a tremendous honor to be your basketball coach. I think, together, we can do some special things here at IU. I am really looking forward to it.
On whether Sampson has been to Bloomington:
KS:I have been to Bloomington. In 1988, we had the Indiana Classic here. I was one of the three guinea pigs that was brought here. We also came in another year in 1993. I came in here in 1988 as a brand new coach at Washington State. I didn't know if I was on foot or horseback that year, but I brought a really good Washington State basketball team here in 1993.
On recruiting junior college players:
KS:I don't think you have to at Indiana. I don't think there is anything wrong with it, by the way. Someone asked me about having a two-year player. When North Carolina won the national championship last year, they had a lot of two-year players. You get them at the front end or back end. It just depends on how you want to look at it. I want the best student-athletes for Indiana. Fortunately, we have some of the best high school coaches in America right here in our state, Indiana. The first thing I am going to try to do is to get the best players in Indiana to come to Indiana University.
On talking to the team:
KS:I met with the team, and I talked to a group of kids. I think I talked to a group of kids that desperately want a coach and need a coach right now. I think it was therapeutic for both of us right now. I need them right now, because I left behind an incredible group of kids. I need to coach a team, and I think they need me. We will proceed from there.
On how he follows Indiana's tradition:
KS:I think that is what Indiana basketball is all about. It is about tradition. First thing, is to be yourself. I am no one else, nor do I want to be. I want to be the best I can be. I told the kids in that room that I don't know how good Indiana can be and in some ways that may even be irrelevant. What is most important is that we be the best that we can be. Whether you are the basketball team at Indiana or the football team at North Carolina, you have to create your own niche. My first job is to make sure that the kids are secure. I care more about them than I care about anything right now. Those young men that I met with in that room today become my sole piece of work. I want to spend every waking hour with them. The last thing we did is exchange cell phone numbers. Can you believe that? I asked if they had a cell phone and they started whipping them things out like they have three or four of them. I just need one phone number and one phone. We want to get together, maybe even this weekend. We have a convention and two fairly important games this weekend in Indianapolis. I told them that I am here. I want to meet them individually and as a group. I want to ask them questions because this is their team. It is our team. When they take ownership, and we take ownership together, that is when magic happens, when everybody cares at the same level. How do I follow tradition? By creating a niche with the team and coming up with our own identity and being the best we can be. If we do that, everything else will take care of itself.
