Coaching changes in college basketball are often quick and suprising. Witness Tubby Smith's bolt from Kentucky to Minnesota, or Billy Gillispie leaving for Kentucky directly after having negotiated a contract extension (and raise) with Texas A&M. These types of moves leave the teams left by the departing coaches confused, and the recruits brought in by the coach in an even greater cloud of disarray. Am I loyal to the coach, the man whose plan and regime I had ascribed to when I accepted my scholarship? Or do my loyalties truly lie with the college to which I have pledged my services? This conundrum came to prominence recently in the wake of Bob Huggins leaving Kansas State for his alma matter at West Virginia. Specualtion ran rampant that Michael Beasley, the number one prospect in the entire nation and the crown jewel of Huggin's #1 rated recruiting class at Kansas State, would follow his coach to WVU or otherwise seek to be let loose of his national letter of intent. In the end Kansas State was spared from this reality, and the school has been able to hold Huggin's recruiting class together for a run at a Big 12 conference that has seen many of the top teams weakened by graduation and early defections.
Not every story wraps itself up so neatly however
Sometimes when a coach leaves, he sets off a series of shockwaves that resonate across the country.
Meet Kelvin Sampson.
Let's take a little trip back in time. March 29th, 2006 to be exact. On that day it was announced that Kelvin Sampson would be leaving Oklahoma, the school that he had taken to 11 NCAA Tournaments, in order to take the coaching job at Indiana that had been vacated by Mike Davis. The move was a complete shock to Oklahoma, as Sampson had no ties to Indiana that would seem to pull him away form the Sooners. It was revealed soon thereafter however, that Sampson may have been running from his past, as the NCAA came down with sanctions against Sampson for a series of recruiting violations involving phone calls that had occured under Sampson's watch at Oklahoma. Oklahoma acted quickly and hired Jeff Capel from VCU within two weeks to replace Sampson. The shockwaves however, had already begun to spread.
It has been mentioned many times that the three elite recruits Sampson had signed for his 2006 recruiting class were released from their letters of intent to Oklahoma. The identity of those recruits, and where they subsequently went, has not been as widely noted. The three recruits were the top players from what at the time was a national top 5 recruiting class for the Sooners. Once word of Sampson's departue got out, his top recruits were not far behind. All three recruits were rated in the top 100 by Rivals.com, and played 3 different positions, which goes to say that Oklahoma lost a lot of elite talent all across their lineup that day.
So who were these three? Well, I am assuming you have heard of the first player if you followed college basketball last season, and that would be Villanova scoring sensation Scottie Reynolds. Reynolds selected Villanova over Michigan in late May, and stepped onto a Wildcats team that had holes in their lineup the size of buildings after the departure of Allan Ray, Kyle Lowry, and Randy Foye to the NBA. Reynolds leapt at the opportunity and became the team's second leading scorer at 14.8 ppg after a slow start to his freshman campaign. Down the stretch in the Big East schedule Reynolds began to reguarly throw in 20 point games, even going off for 40 in a game against UConn. Suffice it to say, I am sure Sooners fans would have liked to see him wearing an Oklahoma jersey instead of a Villanova one.
The second prospect that jumped ship landed in a bit of an ironic spot. 6 foot 10 inch PF Jeremy Mayfield chose UAB after getting out of his Oklahoma commit, and was greeted there by none other than the man that Sampson had gone to Indiana to replace, Mike Davis. Mayfield played interrmittently throughout his freshman year at UAB, but still posted respectable averages of 4.6 pts and 4.1 rebs per contest in only 17.3 minutes of action a night. Mayfield should play a more prominent role next season, when he is joined by...oh, is that the sound of another dominoe falling?... Indiana transfer Robert Vaden. You see, Vaden is a big Mike Davis fan. Big enough to leave Indiana and follow Davis to UAB. Vaden is no slouch either, rather quite the opposite, having averaged 13.5 pts, 5.5 rebs, and 3.5 asts during his sophmore year at Indiana. Can you feel the shockwaves now?
The third prospect to leave Oklahoma, and the most highly touted, was 6 foot 8 SF Damion James. You have probably heard of him too, although he was overshadowed last season by a slightly more prominent freshman on his own team...one Kevin Durant. James quietly had a very good year for the Longhorns, chipping in 7.6 pts and 7.2 rebs a game, including 4 double-doubles. Also, with Durant leaving James should step in for the lion's share of minutes and shots left in his wake.
The departure of Kelvin Sampson led directly to exodus of three elite recruits from the Oklahoma program, and his departure also directly allowed three other programs to bolster their records for years to come by acquiring those same players. Oklahoma was not nearly as fortunate last season, limping through the year on their way to a 16-15 finish. So what is to be learned from this sad tale, of the lost promise of an Oklahoma program that had what could have been, with Reynolds, James, and Mayfield in the fold, a possible run at a final four? I suppose that it goes to show that perhaps the greatest trait that a school should look for, above recruiting or X's and O's, is getting a coach with loyalty and integrity, lest they see their hard work and hopes scatterred to the wind like so many 5 star grains of sand.
*Disclaimer: Well, it seems as if I have managed to anger both Oklahoma and Indiana fans with this post. (And been accused of being an Illini fan?) So just as an explanation...1. I have never had a rooting interest for or against any of the above teams...2. As the title says, this is meant as a cautionary look at the type of fallout that can occur when a big time college coach leaves a program, not a rant against anyone in particular. That is all.
