“Kelvin Sampson’s Remarkable Journey to the Houston Cougars”
Interestingly, in today’s era of NIL and player empowerment, Houston basketball enthusiasts find themselves facing an outdated sanction linked to their 2025 national championship campaign. A lingering five-year show-cause penalty stemming from Kelvin Sampson’s tenure at Oklahoma and Indiana has now worked in favor of the Cougars, as they gear up to compete for their first national title against No. 1 Florida at 8:50 p.m. on Monday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
It’s worth noting that at one point in his illustrious career, the 69-year-old Sampson was on a promising trajectory, having successfully turned around programs like Montana Tech, Washington State, and Oklahoma. However, before he could make a significant impact at Indiana, the NCAA imposed sanctions and a show-cause penalty on Sampson, prompting him to switch to the NBA for a brief period. Returning to college basketball in 2014, Sampson has played a pivotal role in guiding the Cougars to six consecutive Sweet 16 appearances. A national championship victory would mark Sampson’s 200th win with the Cougars.
Let’s delve into how Sampson found his way to Houston and steered the team towards a potential national title:
How did Kelvin Sampson land at Houston?
After successful coaching spells at Montana Tech, Washington State, and Oklahoma, Sampson’s coaching career was on an upward trajectory, leading him to take over from Mike Davis after his departure from Indiana in 2006. Sampson became the second minority coach in the history of Indiana basketball, following in Davis’ footsteps.
The Hoosiers had just concluded a 19-12 season in 2005-06, bowing out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Sampson’s first season saw Indiana post a 21-11 record and advance to the second round of March Madness. However, despite a strong 22-4 start to the 2007-08 season, Sampson was compelled to resign and accept a $750,000 settlement amidst an NCAA probe into recruiting violations on February 22, 2008. The NCAA discovered that Sampson and his staff had made over 100 impermissible phone calls to recruits during his initial season with the Hoosiers, on top of more than 550 such calls during his tenure at Oklahoma.
Already under NCAA-imposed probation for his violations at Oklahoma, Sampson was also accused of providing false information to NCAA investigators. In November, the NCAA imposed a five-year show-cause penalty on Sampson.
Following his resignation, Sampson had accepted an advisory role with the San Antonio Spurs under Greg Popovich. He then became an assistant coach under Scott Skiles with the Milwaukee Bucks, joining the Houston Rockets coaching staff under head coach Kevin McHale in 2011.
In 2014, after Houston coach James Dickey stepped down following a 64-62
Kelvin Sampson’s Coaching Journey:1979-80: Graduate Assistant at Michigan State1980-81: Assistant Coach at Montana Tech1981-85: Head Coach at Montana Tech1985-87: Assistant Coach at Washington State1987-94: Head Coach at Washington State1994-06: Head Coach at Oklahoma2006-08: Head Coach at Indiana2008-11: Assistant Coach for Milwaukee Bucks (NBA)2011-14: Assistant Coach for Houston Rockets (NBA)2014-present: Head Coach at HoustonKelvin Sampson’s Coaching Record with Houston:Since joining Houston in 2014, Sampson has led the team to impressive results:2014-15: 13-192015-16: 22-102016-17: 21-112017-18: 27-82018-19: 33-4 (Sweet 16)2019-20: 23-82020-21: 28-4 (Final Four)2021-22: 32-6 (Elite Eight)2022-23: 33-4 (Sweet 16)2023-24: 32-5 (Sweet 16)2024-25: 35-4 (National Championship Game)Career: 299-83 (78% win rate)This information was originally featured on USA TODAY in an article discussing Kelvin Sampson’s journey to becoming the head coach of the Houston men’s basketball team.
