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Q & A on Sampson’s departure
No Author
Published: March 30, 2006
Oklahoman
Questions and answers arising from Kelvin Sampson's departure from Oklahoma to take the Indiana basketball coaching job:
Question: Sampson is leaving behind the best recruiting class he ever signed, with five players ranked among the nation's top 100. Are they able to void their signed national letters of intent with OU?
Answer: Not unless OU agrees to release them. Otherwise, the letters are binding and would cost a recruit a year of eligibility if he transfers, or they would have to attend a prep school or sit out a year of college.
The recruits were not notified of Sampson's move before it made national news. What are the recruits (Damion James, Keith Clark, Tony Crocker, Jeremy Mayfield and Scottie Reynolds) thinking about doing?
Clark, James and Reynolds have said they will wait to see whom OU hires to make a decision.
"As for right now, I haven't made up my mind about anything, said Clark, a Putnam City High School product. "I'm waiting to see what happens. I thought we could (break) our (national letters of intent) since coach Sampson left. That's what has been said.
How will the program function until a head coach is hired?
OU athletic director Joe Castiglione will name assistant coach Bob Hoffman as interim coach. That announcement is expected to come today.
Will Sampson's assistants (Hoffman, McCallum and Bennie Seltzer, as well as director of basketball operations Jerry Green) be considered for the head position?
They'll be given the same opportunity as other potential candidates. Seltzer, who played for Sampson at Washington State, is a virtual certainty to go to Indiana with Sampson. McCallum (Ball State and Houston), Hoffman (Texas-Pan American) and Green (Oregon and Tennessee) all have Division I-A head coaching experience.
McCallum has been rumored to be a candidate to return to Ball State, where he played (leaving as the school's all-time leading scorer) and coached from 1993-2000. If he's not a legitimate candidate to replace Sampson, he'd probably join Sampson's Hoosiers staff.
Hoffman is interested in the OU job and might be asked to join Sampson in Indiana. He could also be retained as an assistant by the new OU coach because of his many connections in Oklahoma.
"I told them directly that if they did have interest to make that known and they would receive consideration, Castiglione said. "Where that goes from there, it's too early to say.
As for the coaches, decisions apparently have yet to be made on their futures.
When did Sampson notify OU officials that he was taking the Indiana job?
Sampson told Castiglione in a Monday afternoon meeting.
Was Sampson's announcement as shocking to Castiglione as it was to OU players and both OU and Indiana fans?
No. Castiglione knew that other programs have pursued Sampson and that one of major stature would be of interest to Sampson.
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