Hang up the phone and coach!

Regarding the recent recruitment violations and subsequent punishments imposed upon IU basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, my first impulse was to begin printing bumper stickers that read: HANG UP AND COACH!\nUpon further reflection, however, this issue is not very funny. The University is embarrassed, the basketball team loses a scholarship, an assistant coach is barred from off-campus recruiting and making phone calls to recruits (probably a good thing) and Kelvin Sampson forfeits a scheduled $500,000 raise. I must admit it’s the $500,000 figure that grabs my attention.\nIf only we were all so well-paid we could afford to be “unaware” of actions that could cost us half a million dollars! To put things in perspective: As a part-time academic advisor, I provide services to 164 students. I believe these services are as important to those students as whatever benefits they derive from the IU basketball program. Yet, at my salary it would take 31 years to earn $500,000. At the median household income of $48,200 reported in 2006 by the U.S. Census Bureau, most U.S. families would need 10.37 years to earn what Kelvin Sampson threw away with 45 impermissible phone calls.\nCan something good come of this? Possibly. Since the University’s excellent financial planners must have already budgeted $500,000 for Coach Sampson’s “scheduled” pay raise, the University now has a half-million extra dollars laying around. Let’s hope IU spends that money wisely – perhaps for minority scholarships (of the non-basketball variety, of course).