Have you forgiven Kelvin Sampson?

[BigTime]

I have. While I will never be pleased with the t-shirt and phone calls, I will always be happy with the job that he did at Oklahoma. I enjoyed the "Heart, Hustle and Hardwood", the toughness, and the effort on defense that he demanded of his players. He did so many good things for this program, and will always be a Sooner in my book.

Have you forgiven Kelvin :kelvin?

 

[MNsooner]

I agree he could get a lot out of his players. His guys played like they ate nails for breakfast. He made a mistake and it caught up to him, but in the end he did a lot for OU.

 

[thebigabd]

Without a doubt... he did a lot for OU basketball, and put a tough brand of basketball out on the floor.

Nobody wanted to play a Kelvin-coached OU team... Nobody.

 

[HoHum]

I just miss people calling him Calvin Simpson and stuff. Heck of a coach, though.

EDIT - Read the thread title as Have you FORGOTTEN Kelvin Sampson.

 

[elmocarp]

I don't know if forgiveness comes into it for me because I don't really harbor any particular ill will toward him over his time at OU. My problem with him is that I think he was a fraud and a generally bad person...I felt that way years before he got caught cheating.

Also, I don't think what he did could be called a mistake. It was a deliberate, repetitious system of rule-breaking. No need to rehash everything, but I think most of us know that the things he got caught for weren't the only problems on his watch.

I thought he did a very solid job with the team on the floor while he was here and I hope he can find a way back to the program like Switzer did (I have many similar complaints about Switzer). But I don't feel like its an elephant in the room or anything...if there is never a "homecoming" for him I won't notice...

 

[BigTime]

I don't know if forgiveness comes into it for me because I don't really harbor any particular ill will toward him over his time at OU. My problem with him is that I think he was a fraud and a generally bad person...I felt that way years before he got caught cheating.
Also, I don't think what he did could be called a mistake. It was a deliberate, repetitious system of rule-breaking. No need to rehash everything, but I think most of us know that the things he got caught for weren't the only problems on his watch.

I thought he did a very solid job with the team on the floor while he was here and I hope he can find a way back to the program like Switzer did (I have many similar complaints about Switzer). But I don't feel like its an elephant in the room or anything...if there is never a "homecoming" for him I won't notice...

Ok, well since you don't like me phrasing it as forgiveness, are you able to remember him for all the good things that he did, or do the phone calls and skipping town for Indiana stick out more in your mind?

 

[brumFTW]

I agree with pretty much everything that's been said, but Sampson will always rub me the wrong way. Probably because as a small kid I remember going to the OU summer basketball camps, and the man made parents pay for pictures with their kids. Any camper received free autographs from the entire roster, but Sampson thought he was so damn hot that he charged 6 year old children for a picture with him! I've easily forgiven him for his recruiting misconduct, but that's mainly because I'm just so happy to have a coach like Capel that I don't care about that all those past headaches.
:clap :jcapel :clap

 

[BigTime]

I agree with pretty much everything that's been said, but Sampson will always rub me the wrong way. Probably because as a small kid I remember going the the OU summer basketballs camps, and the man made parents pay for pictures with their kids. Any camper received free autographs from the entire roster, but Sampson thought he was so damn hot that he charged 6 year old children for a picture with him! I've easily forgiven him for his recruiting misconduct, but that's mainly because I'm just so happy to have a coach like Capel that I don't care about that all those past headaches.
:clap :jcapel :clap

haha I still have a couple of pictures with Kelvin from his camps. Man I loved OU basketball camp. It was always one of the big high-points of my summer.

I agree that what Capel is doing now makes it easier to remember the good things of the Sampson era.

 

[MNsooner]

I agree that what Capel is doing now makes it easier to remember the good things of the Sampson era.

Yep. If someone came in and was unable to recruit because of the self imposed restraints or the diminished fan base at the time he left the name of this thread may have been Will you ever forgive Sampson.

 

[elmocarp]

Ok, well since you don't like me phrasing it as forgiveness, are you able to remember him for all the good things that he did, or do the phone calls and skipping town for Indiana stick out more in your mind?

Settle down there, Big fella...I wasn't taking you to task or anything, jeez...

Here is how I do and likely will continue to remember the Sampson era:

1-The style of play. Both the good and the bad...I loved how tough the teams were and, as ABD already pointed out, no one wanted to play OU. But I also always thought the style was too constrictive and that he had a hard time maximizing the talents of high-end players. As my friend Daryan Selvy once said, "Kelvin can't coach athletes."

2-Kelvin was a jerk and wasn't really a very good guy. I'm not gonna rehash everything because I know a lot of people are really touchy about that kind of thing and I'm not trying to be "that guy." Let's just say it was my "opinion."

3-The blue shirts. Self-explanatory.

4-The way no two OU fans ever seemed to feel the same way about him. With Capel, the main basketball topic is recruiting. With Sampson, fans were always bickering over one thing or another.

5-The rules violations here and at IU. I'm not giving him a pass at all, but I just don't think of this before the other stuff. I never thought he was a good guy and I never trusted him to do things the right way, so the cheating wasn't too big of a surprise. And while I was never banging the drum trying to get him fired, my initial reaction to the news he went to IU was relief and surprise that IU wanted him.

 

[BigTime]

Settle down there, Big fella...I wasn't taking you to task or anything, jeez...
Here is how I do and likely will continue to remember the Sampson era:

1-The style of play. Both the good and the bad...I loved how tough the teams were and, as ABD already pointed out, no one wanted to play OU. But I also always thought the style was too constrictive and that he had a hard time maximizing the talents of high-end players. As my friend Daryan Selvy once said, "Kelvin can't coach athletes."

2-Kelvin was a jerk and wasn't really a very good guy. I'm not gonna rehash everything because I know a lot of people are really touchy about that kind of thing and I'm not trying to be "that guy." Let's just say it was my "opinion."

3-The blue shirts. Self-explanatory.

4-The way no two OU fans ever seemed to feel the same way about him. With Capel, the main basketball topic is recruiting. With Sampson, fans were always bickering over one thing or another.

5-The rules violations here and at IU. I'm not giving him a pass at all, but I just don't think of this before the other stuff. I never thought he was a good guy and I never trusted him to do things the right way, so the cheating wasn't too big of a surprise. And while I was never banging the drum trying to get him fired, my initial reaction to the news he went to IU was relief and surprise that IU wanted him.

Easy killer. I wasn't upset. Just trying to phrase the question so you could answer it. No need to "jeez".

 

[elmocarp]

Easy killer. I wasn't upset. Just trying to phrase the question so you could answer it. No need to "jeez".

My bad...sometimes I jeez prematurely...

Happens to everyone...

 

[Oscar Uniform]

for cheating? YES

for underachieving in the NCAA tournament? NO

 

[Krugerfan52]

for cheating? NO

for underachieving in the NCAA tourney? NO

for being a jerk, putting us on probation and jumping ship? NO

 

[doc]

My bad...sometimes I jeez prematurely...

Happens to everyone...

:clap

 

[NickZepp]

I don't think he really underacheived in the NCAA Tournament that much. There's really 2 years you can claim that and one of those the team wasn't playing well at that time. Most of the time his teams went about as far as they could go.

I've forgiven him for cheating because I'm pretty sure that a lot of coaches are still doing the things he was doing. I wouldn't be shocked if Capel is doing those things now.

 

[Capel's Mustache]

I haven't forgiven him one bit. I probably would have if when he went in front of the NCAA he would have said something along the lines of "I am sorry for the mistakes, they won't happen again". What he basically said was OSU turned me in and everybody does it. Way to own up to your mistakes.

He was on with Al & Jim right after he got the IU job making light of the phone calls. Joking about how he now knows how to text (apparently not, but that's another story). Sorry, Calvin there is nothing funny about disgracing my alma mater's name

 

[FaithfulSooner]

What Elmo said. BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!

 

[kansasooner]

"Nothing to forgive."

Nobody wanted to play a Kelvin-coached OU team... Nobody.

Amen.

 

[BigTime]

"Nothing to forgive."
.

I don't know about that, Ooner. He cheated and then left us to deal with his mess. I do think there was something to forgive.

For those answering "No": How long will it be until you do forgive him? The man did a ton of good things for OU and this basketball program. I would hope that all of us would be able to focus on those things at some point in time. He was the reason that I became a fan, and I still appreciate all the wins and how hard his teams played.

Zepp,

There were more than two years that we should have done better in the tournament. The worst one was the team that lost to freakin UMW in the first round. That was awful, awful.