See ya bye

The dark lord has been banished.

Okay, maybe that’s a little melodramatic, but Hoosier Nation did get some good news yesterday when Kelvin Sampson finally resigned as head coach of the Indiana basketball team. As part of the agreement, Sampson will receive a $750,000 buyout – money he has absolute no right to – and agrees not to sue the school for anything related to his being nudged out. The official release from the school said $500,000 of the buyout came from an anonymous donor. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kent Benson, Ted Kitchel and a few of the other IU legends who were calling for Sampson’s dismissal banded together to cover the fee.

Early on there were reports that players were planning to protest if Sampson was removed and were threatening to sit out. Then six of the players ended up skipping practice yesterday afternoon, including star forward D.J. White. However, the Indy Star reported that all 13 IU players boarded the team plane today for tonight’s game against Northwestern and that all were in attendance for a walkthrough last night around 9 p.m. as well. So much for the “mutiny” that many people were reporting.

No matter what happens the rest of this year or who leaves or which recruits go somewhere else, this was a good day for IU basketball.