Fife relates to turmoil players feel
Dane Fife hasn’t been through this exact situation, but he certainly can sympathize with the current group of Indiana men’s basketball players.
Months before Fife’s junior season at Indiana began in 2000, Bob Knight was fired.
Fife was upset, said he was “as good as gone” in terms of transferring to another university to play basketball. But then former assistant coach Mike Davis moved into an interim role and another assistant on Knight’s staff, John Treloar, stayed. So Fife did too. One year later, the Hoosiers played Maryland in the NCAA championship game, which IU lost 64-52.
This year’s Hoosiers are 22-4 and in the midst of a Big Ten championship race. Now, the players have to adjust to life without coach Kelvin Sampson, who accepted a settlement Friday and ended his tenure at the school after less than two seasons.
Sampson is out after the NCAA alleged five potential “major” violations. Knight was fired because of what then-president Myles Brand called a “continued pattern of unacceptable behavior.”
“It is very confusing for the student-athletes, as your leader is basically being taken away from you,” Fife said. “I was there. It almost becomes your second family, and when one of your family members is taken away, it hurts, especially when it’s the leader of the program. But I think the loyalties have to be ultimately to Indiana University. It’s bigger than any one person. Indiana basketball will always be bigger than any one person, including anybody who has ever played there or coached there.”
The key for players will be to focus on the rest of the season.
That may not be easy.
Senior center D.J. White was one of six players who skipped practice Friday. When asked by an Indianapolis TV station whether players had threatened not to play unless Sampson was coach, White said “I will not say it’s not true.”
That attitude likely will have to change, Fife said.
“They have a job to do, and that’s something we have to keep in mind,” Fife said. “But it is a bother. There’s no question. … You can imagine it’s a very emotional time, and there is probably quite a bit of confusion among the players.”
And that’s to say nothing of IU’s perception going forward.
Fife played, graduated and coached at Indiana and said his relationship with Sampson is good. He also said he’s familiar with the players. But Fife is concerned because he thinks “IU is being portrayed as cheaters.”
“It is embarrassing from the standpoint that IU is sacred and known for doing things the right way and the reputation it has as going about their business the right way,” Fife said. “It does hurt your pride as a former player. That’s something we can always look back on win or lose, and now being grouped with a different type of a program, and I don’t think that’s right from two angles. One, I think coach Sampson deserves the right to speak, and then two, IU is made up of a group of good people that truly have the interest of the university at heart.
“Overall, it’s a very good university, and the basketball program will go on and continue to be one of the top programs in the country.”
sclardie@jg.net