Lyin', Cheatin', Stealin'

“Are you gonna believe me or your lyin’ eyes?” JR Ewing

I’m distressed. As a life-long Indiana basketball fan I’m clinically depressed about what’s going on with the program and their coach Kelvin Sampson. In a nutshell Sampson came to IU under a cloud because at his previous school (Oklahoma) he had violated a NCAA recruiting rule on how many phone calls are permissible when recruiting high school kids. It wasn’t severe and it’s certainly not the dirtiest thing a coach can do but he did it and was on probation with the NCAA because of it.

He assured everyone that it was an honest mistake and that we would be clean beyond reproach. Well, now it’s come to light that he violated the rules of the probation he’s been under and “may” have lied about it during the school's internal investigation.

Now, I like Kelvin Sampson as a coach. His kids play hard, he attracts good talent and wins games. However, like most IU fans, I was spoiled by all the years that Bob Knight ran a successful and extremely clean program. I remember Knight making Steve Alford sit out a game for appearing in a calendar a campus sorority had made to raise money. A grey area in the rules but one he didn't even flinch at doing something about.

So now there are two potential issues. One, that Sampson re-committed the same crime and two that he publicly lied to his boss about it.

So, what do you do when you have a talented employee who is generally well-liked and successfully runs his department in major KSF’s (key success factors) of business generation (wins/losses), revenue (sold out games and national tv exposure) and great staffing (recruiting). But, the guys a little slimy and lies to you about things.

In my blog of October 8th last year I talked about the 10 simple rules of being a successful employee. http://executiveondemand.blogspot.com/2007/10/ten-simple-rules.html. One was “Never (ever, ever)….(ever, ever, ever) lie, cheat or steal. It will create a stigma that can never be overcome.”

So Mr. or Ms. Big Boss (or in this case IU Athletic Director Rick Greenspan) what are you going to do with your talented but issue-riden employee?

A book I'll read

“Frankly, I’m suspicious of anyone who has a strong opinion on a complicated issue.” Scott Adams,

The Seven Flat One Minute Long Tailed Black Swans Who Stole My Cheese – By Scott Adams (who hasn’t written this book but should)

I love “How to be better” books, especially when they involve business. They prop open doors, press damp papers back into shape, and most of all look cool lying around your house or office. OK, I’ve even read a few of them. My problem with actually reading them is I always somewhere in Chapter 3 find myself saying to myself “Well Duh”.

Each one is filled with total common sense.

The only thing worse than the common sense syndrome is the moron co-worker or (much worse) Boss who latches onto the “Well Duh” Book du jour with the ferocity of a dog with a new chew toy.

You’ve been there. They buy everyone they know copies of it, quote chapter and verse from it in meetings, add a quote from it in their email signature. This does, however, bring up another use for the book… to bash the new disciple senseless in mid-quote!

You see, the problem isn’t the enlightened, common sense, “gee I knew that” material of the books. It's certainly not the authors who have spent countless hours writing the book. Look, we all can use refreshers and a little "Well Duh" never hurt anyone.

The problem is that PEOPLE DON’T ACTUALLY DO THE COMMON SENSE STUFF THAT MAKES YOU GO “WELL DUH”!!!!! They talk about it, preach to others about it, get tattoos about it and generally bore everyone else senseless about it but they don’t wake up in the morning and actually practice these common sense principles.

You’ve probably figured out by now that I’m into quotes. Well there’s one that goes “When everything is said and done, a hell of a lot more is said than done”. So, if you read one of these “Duh” books and it moves you then PLEASE, just go out and do.

I QUIT!!!!

"All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things." Robert Montgomery Knight


I got a call from a friend the other day telling me how much he enjoyed my blog. I was flattered. He then proceeded to launch into the 973 ways I could improve it and if I dedicated more of my attention (and his suggestions) to the site that it could "become viral" and "become my profession" and "wouldn't that be cool".

Thus, following the lead of the person I've most admired over the years, The General. I QUIT....

Let me explain. Bob Knight and I showed up on the Indiana campus the same year and were both met with about the same amount of acclaim. He was a young coach from Army whose greatest claim to fame was playing college ball alongside John Havlicek at Ohio State. My credentials were...uh...less.

Over the next many years I came to enjoy RMK for many reasons: the undefeated 1976 season, the National Championships, the candy-striped warm ups. But most of all because here was a guy who got to do what he wanted for a living, get paid great money for it and....best of all....do it on his terms. Yeah, yeah, don't bore me with the trangressions. I've heard them all and actually know them better than you do.

So this week, in the middle of the season, Coach Knight "retired". On his terms. Now, I've not talked to Bob about his decision but I'll bet that somewhere in his decision process is the element "it had become A JOB". And the minute it became A JOB he was out.

Well, same thing. The minute this blog thing becomes A JOB...I'm out.

See ya' Coach. College basketball just became a lot less interesting.