I think that's part of the problem.

He tries to present himself as this reasonable guy who sees both sides of each potential issue in complete ignorance of big pictures trends. He'll throw both sides of something a bone so it looks like he's being thoughtful and then wait for the winds to shift and jump on board whatever side seems safer.

But he has no original insight, he's not particularly capable of evaluating any big picture issues, and he takes anything an ND logo says at face value. So when he inevitably repeats whatever the ND logo says, people say, "Look at Pete Sampson. He's reasonable. After all, he even thought one hypothetically might have been justified to fire Kelly after a 4-8 season. I can trust what he has to say. Yeah, the fact that Swarbrick removed something from his bio after he was deposed and wanted to distance himself from the role that he previously advertised is not of any importance because people update their bios all the time and take out trifling things like being longtim GC for USAG and leave in helping Indianapolis host the 1991 World Gymnastics Championships (after listing four other events his group helped get) or being awarded the Pathfinder Award from Youthlinks Indiana. I mean who the fuck is he kidding. Of course, he removed that to distance himself from what was going on. Does that mean he's guilty of something? No. But it takes a certain kind of dumb to think it wasn't directly related to distancing himself from potential (even if unmerited) controversy.

That's a lot more dangerous to seeking and reporting on truth than the most earnest homers.