The sooner the better

It's about time former University of Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson is leaving Norman. Unfortunately, he's leaving after being caught for numerous recruiting violations, which will cost OU scholarships, and other recruiting perks, and hamper the next coach. OU has made the NCAA tournament 11 of Sampson's 12 years at OU. Unfortunately, they've lost in the first round more than any other major conference team. This year, OU had top 10 talent and washed up in the opening round against UW-Milwaukee.

Sampson has been heralded, at least of late, as a great recruiter. Interesting, but last time I checked OKC products J.R. Giddens and Darnell Jackson travelled north to KU and AP All-American Sheldon Williams of Duke left central Oklahoma (Midwest City, I believe) to study and play in Durham, North Carolina. This year, Sampson's star recruit was a 6'7" post player from OKC, Taylor Griffin, who lacked the size to contribute immediately, given his limited skill set. He's a good athlete, but he's not Tyrus Thomas.

Apparently, OU was set to get a top 5 recruiting class for '06-'07. Hopefully, everyone will still come to Norman, because Sampson's leaving the cupboard pretty bare, with Taj Gray, Kevin Bookout, and Terrell Everett all moving on. Maybe the next coach will be able to avoid serious recruiting violations, graduate players and win in the postseason. Or, maybe he'll just accomplish one of the three. Either way, he'll be doing better than Sampson.