Arrogance vs. Ignorance

Here's a question for you: when someone blatantly breaks the rules... would you prefer that they do so out of arrogance? Or ignorance?

For the sake of my hypothetical, I'd define arrogance as, "I'm gonna go ahead and do it, because they'll never catch me... and even if they do, I'm smart/powerful enough to beat the rap."

Ignorance, on the other hand, would be, "Wait... I can't do that?"

Neither one is a particularly compelling defense... but personally, arrogance just bugs me more. The people who break the rules out of arrogance are the ones I most want to see get "what's coming to 'em."

Which brings us to the latest chapter in the long-running drama that is Kelvin Sampson's tenure at Indiana.

The NCAA enforcement staff's case summary -- prepared in advance of the formal hearing on Sampson's transgressions scheduled for June 13th -- includes a statement from Sampson's director of basketball operations indicating that the coach must have known he was up to no good. The Indianapolis Star quotes the transcript of an interview between Jerry Green, former director of basketball operations, and NCAA investigators:

I see absolutely no way that (violations) could've been an accident. It had to have been done purposefully because there was too much information that was given to the coaching staff, in my opinion, to keep them from making a major mistake.

The full report includes similar statements from ten other recruits, family members of recruits, and other assistant coaches.

So there you go... arrogance.

Unfortunately, the ongoing investigation is unlikely to have much -- if any -- impact on Sampson at this point. He's now an assistant coach with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, well beyond the reach of the NCAA police.

I wouldn't even rule out the possibility of Sampson getting another college job at some point in the future. If a couple of years out of Division I can rehabilitate Mike Jarvis, anything's possible.