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Coaches: Martz dishes, Sampson going, O'Brien cashes in
Posted on February 21, 2008 4:41 PM
Looks like it's all over but the paperwork in Bloomington. Kelvin Sampson won't be coaching Indiana anymore, leaving the bench open for a triumphant return by Mr. Bob Knight, late of Texas Tech. Yeah, that'll happen. Off ya go Kelvin, and try to keep under your mobile plan minutes if you ever get another coaching job...
According to a third source, there was a team meeting at 3:00 p.m. ET in which several of the players — including D.J. White and Eric Gordon Jr. — were told that Sampson would not coach the team the remainder of the season. The source did not know if Sampson would be fired, or merely suspended.Meanwhile, someone got fired in the Detroit Lions organization last month. To the sadness of Lions football fans, it wasn't Matt Millen, but Mike Martz, the madman offensive coordinator. He's got a new job trying to turn the 49ers offense into something resembling an NFL unit. But first, he had a few words to say to the media at the NFL combine in Indy...
Q: So they did fire you?That's ok, neither can anyone else in Detroit, except maybe the voices in William Clay Ford's head when he keeps giving Matt Millen extensions.
A: “Oh, yeah. They fired me. Absolutely fired me.”
Q: How is a firing a mutual thing?
A: “That I agreed I should probably go (laugh). When they fired me, it became mutual. I said, ‘You’re right. I probably should go.’ That’s how it became mutual.”
Q: Were you surprised the Lions danced around it, never saying you were fired?
A: “I can’t explain anything that they do. I can’t.”
Ex-The Ohio State University hoops coach Jim O'Brien should finally get a big check from the school for firing him and breaking his contract. The Buckeyes appealed the decision all the way up to the Ohio Supreme Court, which decided they aren't going to hear the case...
O'Brien, the men's basketball coach at Ohio State from 1998 until 2004, was fired after he told then-athletic director Andy Geiger that he had given a $6,000 loan to a prospective recruit. Such loans are a violation of NCAA rules.I think some OSU alums will be getting some frantic calls from their alma mater this weekend.
O'Brien sued the university for wrongfully firing him and won $2.2 million plus interest in the Ohio Court of Claims in 2006. The university appealed to the Supreme Court after an appeals court upheld the award. The university and O'Brien's lawyers figure the total award will be $2.7 million to nearly $3 million.