While Kelvin Sampson was being introduced as head coach at Indiana University, one question came to mind during his introductory news conference: is there any loyalty left in college basketball?

For years that question has been posed towards the players that have transferred from school to school.

Now it seems the coaches are catching up with the players.

Why would Sampson leave an Oklahoma program where he spent 12 years?

In his 12 years, Sampson had a 279-109 record, made 11 tournament appearances, a Final Four appearance in 2002 and an Elite Eight showing in 2003.

If you take out Indian’s championship game loss to Maryland in 2002, the Hoosiers haven’t come close to the success the Sooners had under Sampson.

But when a prestigious college basketball program like Indiana comes calling – or as most Illinois fans remember with Bill Self heading to Kansas – all of a sudden the coach falls in love about the possibility.

Who wouldn’t want to go to the school where Bob Knight led the Hoosiers to three national championships? Quite frankly, Oklahoma can’t compete with that.

While the Sooners are a good program, they are nowhere near the program that Indiana is. Maybe, if Sampson would have stayed, Oklahoma could have built a program into a national powerhouse.

It’s been said that Sampson’s incoming recruiting class at Oklahoma is one of the best in the country. It’s hard to understand why he would walk away from a situation as good as Oklahoma to a situation as uncertain as Indiana.

His first order of business won’t be to re-recruit D.J. White and Robert Vaden, but to win over fans that had come to expect Steve Alford and Randy Whitman.

The Illini had the same problem four years ago when Self left corn-filled Champaign to tornado alley Lawrence, Kan.

At the time, Illini fans couldn’t understand why Self would go to Kansas when it seem he had a team ready to bloom for success.

The answer is simple: History.

The history of a program and the coaches that have followed are too much for a coach to overlook.

It was hard for Self to pass up the same chair that Phog Allen, Larry Brown and Roy Williams used to sit at everyday.

No matter how much Illinois or Oklahoma fans may argue the point; there is no presence like Allen or Knight at either university.

But the question lingers, when will these college coaches bypass perceived greener pastures and stay to finish what they started?

Perhaps, someone will step up one day and say no to the likes of Kansas and Indiana, but perhaps not.

It’s time for a coach to step out and be a trendsetter in an era of picking up your bags and heading out the door at the first opportunity that comes forward.

It’s one thing to leave Murray State for Cincinnati, but to leave Oklahoma for Indiana doesn’t quite add up.

It’s time for the coaches to be held to the same standards as their players.

Marc Correnti is a junior journalism major. E-mail him at EIU3583@yahoo.com.