Inside the Hall - Latest Comments in Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

BGleas — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:56:26 -0000

I guess the difference here is that I live in the real world where there are shades of grey to situations like this. Your fantasy world where decisions like this are simple and easy must be nice.

I am not a Dakich apologist because he's an "IU guy". I was one of many that hammered him on this and other blogs because he dismissed two players basically the day before Crean was hired. At the time I felt it should have been Crean's decision, not the decision of a lame-duck coach.

Now I commend him for his actions and I respect him for not airing the dirty laundry in public. Why does he have to tell you what really happened on his radio show? He doesn't have to do that and I respect him for it. He's taking heat from people like you when he probably could avoid it by speaking publicly, but he has class and isn't throwing people under the bus on public radio.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

junkman — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:17:55 -0000

It would be even easier for him to address these issues on his radio show...But he won't

I didn't know you needed time with the players to tell them that excessive drug use would not be tolerated. Sampson knew what was going on and most of the campus did as well...

If Dan wants to remove himself from this position than he should have acted in the best interest of the program for the duration of his tenure...

He doesn't get the luxury of being told that he is not going to return as head coach, and then dismiss two players and call his effort of restoring order to the program a full and valiant effort...it wasn't and he shouldn't be excused from the problems that took place and how they were handled while HE WAS IN CHARGE OF SUPERVISING THEM...

I don't care if you have a substitute teacher in high school, if they catch you cheating on a test, than you should be held accountable...you excusing him because he was the interim coach and the potential backlash that would have taken place had he done what was right is pretty close to condoning the behavior that the team displayed... Something that Dakich's lack of action clearly did...He was an enabler and is only getting a free pass because he is an "IU" guy...

Its garbage and so was his judgement

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

BGleas — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:18:42 -0000

I think you're being pretty unfair to Dakich. How long was he even in the position of Director of BBall Ops? Not long at all before being named assistant coach. Also, several of the offending players last season were new to the program, it takes a while to learn the new players as people, and you don't just kick someone off the team for a first offense.

Dakich took over the team in almost an impossible situation. If had begun kicking players off the team from the get go he would have been destroyed by the fans, he almost was anyways because of some of the losses.

It's really to sit here and criticize him when you have no idea what the real situation was.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

MPmike — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:51:05 -0000

One of the articles states that Adam Ahfeld was not involved with drugs, so your statement is not true. He said that he knew about the team doing drugs.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

junkman — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:21:55 -0000

Dakich was orignially hired as the director of basketball operations, not as a coach...He was hired to manage and oversee the program, and only after Senderoff resigned was he elevated to assistant coach...

Dakich's job as the director of basketball operations was to monitor and prevent situations like this...

He kicked the guys off the team, only after the season, when he knew what was going on during the season...

His original responsibility was to the program, not the players...and he failed to live up to the code of conduct expected of his position.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

Justin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:07:00 -0000

Funny Story on this from a blog in Louisville.

http://www.straitpinkie.com...

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

BGleas — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:57:31 -0000

The problem isn't whether Gordon had friends off the team, the problem is that they weren't a real team on or off the court because there was a clear divide between the drug users and non drug users, at least according to Gordon.

What responsibility does Dakich hold? You're talking about an interim coach that the players didn't want anyways. This is a guy who took a ton of heat (from me included) for kicking guys off the team. I'm not sure what else he could have done?

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

junkman — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:34:17 -0000

http://www.ncaapublications...

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

junkman — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:27:47 -0000

Players are randomly tested 20% of scholarship athletes per program...In basketball its 2 or 3 players who are selected at random before the season after midnight madness, and once during the season...

The interesting thing is that Marijuana is not on the substance list for NCAA drug tests, unless there is suspicion of use...Meaning the NCAA has to declare in advance that they will be testing for marijuana.

The other rumor, which can not be confirmed is that Ellis and Bassett failed there NCAA drug test and as a result of that, they were kicked off the team, so that they wouldn't draw any further attention to the program during the NCAA investigation period. ..Now if the NCAA announced a suspicion of marijuana, we could understand that, but if they didn't the drugs that would be tested for and possibly found would have been cocaine, ecstacy and other performance enhancing drugs (not that coc and e are performance enhancing, but the other drugs that would have been tested for would have been perf enhancing)

That was the decision of Dakich, and one that really set the ball in motion for the way the team quit, transferred, etc...and was the reason why Eli Holman went crazy when Crean wouldn't allow them back on the team after passing a drug test...

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

junkman — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:20:25 -0000

Dakich is an idiot... He still lives as if he was playing and a hero in Bloomington.

He wants to protect the locker room, that's fine...than do it while you are the coach. Not after you fail to keep the team in order and cause the biggest meltdown of an athletic program since SMU...

Frankly, Gordon should be clearing the air on all of this, it will put the future teams under the microscope more and keep them away from situations like we went through and are going through...

Dakich is a coward for not being able to say that he failed as a leader, as a coach and to blame Gordon for outing his teammates is just stupid...He didn't name names of the players, only of the coaches who were aware of it, and neither Sampson nor Dakich deserve any reprieve for the actions and lack there of...

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

junkman — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:16:20 -0000

I don't think anyone suggests that Gordon lacked friends away from the team...far from it...but if his options for a low key night away from AH were to hang out with Ellis and Bassett while they smoked pot and bumped rails all night, I can see why there was some seperation from the team.

And if you read Gordon's comments, he said that all of this went on while Sampson was there, and that Sampson was aware of it...I'm not sure how that is protecting him...

The team fell apart because of a lack of leadership, Sampson became a rallying cry for the team and even the students for his last few games of the season, and finally when the University got wind of how bad things really were, they were forced to fire him...As a result the players were without their leader, Dakich was incapable of bringing the team together, McCallom started looking for a new job and the season was lost...

I'm not nearly as concerned with last season's on court finish as I am with the fact that Dakich and others have cleared themselves of any responsibility in what was going on with the team...

Frankly, it is probably a good thing that we got bounced last year because if the team got any more national attention, the NCAA would have been more likely to extend our post season ban.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

BGleas — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:59:20 -0000

I have to disagree with your original point, even as casual a drug as pot, can certainly tear a team apart. I played D2 basketball, of course not near the level of IU, but my senior year we had a pretty good team, we even started our 12-game conference schedule 5-1. But the team became fractured because half the team was doing drugs (some harder than pot) and the other half weren't.

The half that wasn't doing drugs, wanted no part of hanging out with the half that were. The half that were doing the drugs couldn't figure out why we (I was in the half NOT doing drugs) didn't want to hangout together. Their thought was "you don't have to do drugs, but but you can still come to our party's".

We ended the second half of our conference schedule 1-5 and snuck in as the last seed in the playoffs and were bounced in the first round by a team we beat twice in the regular season.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

IU fan in Boston — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:42:03 -0000

I have it on pretty good authority that it was indeed more serious drugs, including cocaine.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

robweber2 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:32:48 -0000

How can a Division I university with the tradition of Indiana not conduct periodic drug tests? It seems like a given to me.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

MemphisHoosier — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:03:03 -0000

this is just another sad day in this once great program. we'll be back where we should but this just makes me sick. One thing I will say is when Eric says drug use I didn't see it say anything about marijuana itself just drug use. Most people keep assuming its just kids smoking pot but I'd be willing to bet it was something more. If it was pot I don't think it would have been such a dividing factor as most kids dont see it as such a big deal. Cocaine however is a bigger deal to more people and I could see Eric trying to put as much distance between the blow scene and himself as possible.

I hope more and more people are seeing KS for what he is and i hope I get to tell him to his face one day what I think of him. Ya know sometime I think this program becamse cursed the day Brand fired coach....Very little has gone right since then except for the run in the 02 tourney.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

smoker — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:45:55 -0000

2001 Final Four Team smoked pot.... A LOT!... it was the atmosphere.. those kids couldn't believe in anything and Sampson is obviously a poor leader.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

Kelin Blab — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:43:58 -0000

How does anyone feel about Dakich saying, EJ shouldn't have said anything? What goes on in the locker room stays in the locker room?

I commend EJ for saying something and I hope this extends KS ban from coaching kids again, to where he is so tainted no one would touch his sorry .....bleep....

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

Will — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:47:57 -0000

I think the divide the players smoking dope created from the other guys is way more the issue then the actual drug use. Of course with drug tests and such you cant be smoking dope as an NCAA athlete, especially in season, but as half the NBA proves smoking doesnt neccisarily prohibit your ability to produce on the basketball court. I think most of the team just hated Gordon cause of his hype and the attention he got. Anybody who doesnt think Jeff Newton was smoking dope while playing for IU or that Tom Coverdale was plowing around town drunk all the time is nuts. The difference with, specifically the 2002 team was that they got along on the court regardless of what they did off the court.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

joebo14319 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:00:54 -0000

I was just wondering if anyone knew what kind of drungs they were useing, if anyone could let me know it would be greatly helpful. I am writing a paper on it for college and more info i could get the better. Thank you again.

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

joebo14319 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:00:40 -0000

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

joebo14319 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:59:02 -0000

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

Kelin Blab — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:54:40 -0000

Dakich went Mark McGuire on his show today.........."I am not here to talk about the past"

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

FightingHoosiers — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:29:28 -0000

He must mean Bassett...I haven't heard about Thomas either

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

ChronicHoosier — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:05:14 -0000

What's your source for Dre's dismissal? I see he was still with the team as recently as Dec. 4 (http://www.bransondailynews...

Re: Eric Gordon confirms it: Drugs pulled last year’s team apart

Seth — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:50:49 -0000

You don't think he had any other friends than on the basketball team? If so he had a pretty sheltered life. I like Gordon as a player too, I'm not criticizing him. I think he could be a very good pro. He is saying that to cover Sampson, what did they just start smoking dope when Sampson got fired? They fell apart because he got canned. If he had not been fired nothing would have happened, they would have continued doing well and barring an upset done well in the NCAA tournament. If you can't see that you are blind. (again Sampson definitely should have been fired I'm not arguing that)