Goodbye, Greenspan

We expected it, but not like this. After the first report of former basketball coach Kelvin Sampson’s recruiting infractions and the resulting wave of controversy, many wished Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan would resign as well. But he weathered the storm and its initial fury, only to make it to a point in the time line of the scandal relatively tame in comparison to what preceded it. Last week, allegations by the NCAA surfaced that Greenspan had “failed to monitor” Kelvin Sampson. That seemed to be the final straw. \nGreenspan messed up. He took a risk in hiring Sampson, who left Oklahoma in the wake of a scandal, and should have kept a better eye on what happened next. But to berate him for not being clairvoyant is wrong. In reality, the trials and tribulations of IU’s much beleaguered athletics fans are as much the fault of the idiosyncrasies of fate as they are the missteps of a few individuals. \nGreenspan did many good things. He facilitated $55 million worth of renovations to IU athletics facilities and led IU through the death of a beloved coach. Under Greenspan, some of our lesser-known sports are thriving (such as the baseball team), and that’s in addition to the feat of managing the athletics department. In a way, it takes an extraordinary individual to merely prevent such a large organization from running into the ground. \nThe problem is in the way he resigned. Greenspan’s stated reason for quitting was more or less for IU to wash its hands of the scandal. People were too distracted by the infractions, and with the entire athletics department in something of a rebuilding phase, a leader encumbered by rumors of misdeeds and an ongoing investigation would be able to go nowhere slowly. Greenspan’s comments seemed to imply that the real problem was that fans had their priorities wrong. They were apparently too concerned with the seriousness of the violations, and not focused enough on what mattered: forgiving Rick Greenspan. \nThe administration, too, seems mostly tired of the affair. They’re paying him a year of severance and spoke mildly about what had happened. In the same way that Greenspan was tight-lipped when Sampson came under fire, recognizing that criticism of his hire was indirect criticism of himself, so has the administration who hired Greenspan said little. They want to escort him out the door as quickly and painlessly as possible. But it isn’t for those who make mistakes to suggest that we let bygones be bygones. It’s the fans who will decide when we get over what has happened. And moreover, forgetting isn’t what we need right now. If there’s a lesson in all of this, it’s that there is no substitute for playing by the rules. IU fans have every right in the world to be upset that a University that beats its students over the head with the importance of integrity can’t pay its coaches hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do the same. They can say whatever they want about the “importance of looking ahead,” but the damage isn’t theirs to downplay. The real victims in this situation are those who wear the IU logo and now feel as though they have to second-guess what that says to the world.