Indiana was clean.
As in clean as a whistle.
Their reputation was beyond reproach.
The coach most associated with their sports program was well known for a ridiculously over the top temper and a manner that was far more reminiscent of the 1940s than the 1990s, but no one ever questioned his integrity or honesty.
That reputation was nearly destroyed by one mistake hire of Kelvin Sampson.
A spotless record takes only a single blemish to be lost forever, lost beyond any possibility of repair.
Indiana is now one of the myriad college basketball programs that has been found to be in violation of NCAA guidelines and will forever be stained with the taint of Kelvin Sampson. There is no number of Eric Gordon's who can repair that spotless record. No banners will cover it. No whiteouts will bleach that record clean.
Remember that.
And think about another high profile program that hired an equally successful college basketball coach recently, a coach with a record every bit the better of Sampson's (Sampson came to IU with a 453-256 record, Calipari to Kentucky
Sampson's transgressions before his hiring at Indiana were based on rumors and hearsay, but at IU those transgressions turned into full blown NCAA violations.
Coach Cal comes to Kentucky as the only coach to now have two final four appearances vacated (first at Massachusetts, now at Memphis) and a trail of - at the very least - institutional looseness with regards to the NCAA rules.
Admittedly, neither infraction was ever tied directly to Calipari.
And he is a hell of a recruiter and one heck of a basketball coach.
And Kentucky certainly comes into the marriage with a far from spotless reputation.
I have no doubt whatsoever that Coach Cal will bring on-court glory to the Bluegrass during his Kentucky tenure.
I just worry that his legacy might be closer to Sampson's than to Pitino's when he departs.
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