Kelvin Sampson facts for kids
Sampson as coach of Houston in 2023
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| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Houston |
| Conference | Big 12 |
| Record | 299–84 (.781) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | October 5, 1955 Laurinburg, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1973–1978 | Pembroke State |
| Position(s) | Guard |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1979–1980 | Michigan State (GA) |
| 1980–1981 | Montana Tech (assistant) |
| 1981–1985 | Montana Tech |
| 1985–1987 | Washington State (assistant) |
| 1987–1994 | Washington State |
| 1994–2006 | Oklahoma |
| 2006–2008 | Indiana |
| 2008–2011 | Milwaukee Bucks (assistant) |
| 2011–2014 | Houston Rockets (assistant) |
| 2014–present | Houston |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 798–355 (.692) |
| Tournaments | 31–20 (NCAA Division I) 2–4 (NIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
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| Awards | |
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Kelvin Dale Sampson (born October 5, 1955) is a well-known American college basketball coach. He is currently the head coach for the University of Houston's men's basketball team, which plays in the Big 12 Conference.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Kelvin Sampson was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina. He grew up in the Deep Branch community, which is part of the Lumbee Native American tribe. Sampson was a great student and athlete at Pembroke High School. He was the captain of his high school basketball team for two years. His father, John W. "Ned" Sampson, was also a coach and is now in the UNC Pembroke Athletics Hall of Fame.
After high school, Sampson played basketball and baseball at Pembroke State University (now UNC Pembroke). He was the basketball team captain in his senior year. He also earned good grades and received an award for being an outstanding physical education student. After college, he earned a master's degree in coaching from Michigan State University. He also gained experience as a graduate assistant coach there.
Coaching Journey
Starting Out at Montana Tech
After leaving Michigan State, Sampson became an assistant coach at Montana Tech. This school was part of the NAIA. He later became the head coach. Before he arrived, the team had only won 17 games in three years. Sampson helped them win 73 games in his last four seasons. He led them to three straight 22-win seasons and three Frontier Conference championships. He was named the league's coach of the year in 1983 and 1985.
Leading the Washington State Cougars
In 1985, Sampson joined Washington State University as an assistant coach. In 1987, at age 31, he became the head coach. He led the Cougars to their first postseason appearance in nine years in 1992, playing in the NIT. He was named Coach of the Year for his district twice. In 1992, he also won the Pac-10 Coach of the Year award. In 1994, he guided Washington State to its first NCAA tournament in eleven years. He finished his time at Washington State with a record of 103 wins and 103 losses.
Success with the Oklahoma Sooners
On April 25, 1994, Sampson became the head coach at the University of Oklahoma. In his first year, 1995, he was named national coach of the year by several groups, including the Associated Press. He led the Sooners to 23 wins and no losses at home that season.
Sampson has the best winning percentage in Oklahoma's history, winning 71.9% of his games. He led the Sooners to nine years in a row with 20 or more wins. His teams played in a postseason tournament every year he was there. This included 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament. They reached the Sweet 16 in 1999, the Final Four in 2002, and the Elite Eight in 2003. His teams also won the Big 12 tournament three times in a row from 2001 to 2003. He won 279 games at Oklahoma, which is the second-most in school history. At Oklahoma, he earned the nickname "Mr. Blue Shirt" because he always wore blue dress shirts when coaching.
Time with the Indiana Hoosiers
On March 29, 2006, Sampson became the head coach at Indiana University. He said he would only leave Oklahoma for a program as great as Indiana. In his first season at Indiana, he led the Hoosiers to 21 wins and a spot in the NCAA tournament. They won their first game but lost in the second round.
Sampson resigned from Indiana on February 22, 2008. This happened because of rule violations by the NCAA. He was found to have made phone calls to players he was trying to recruit, which was against NCAA rules at the time. As a result, he received a five-year penalty, meaning he couldn't coach at a major college level during that time.
Coaching in the NBA
After leaving Indiana, Sampson worked as an advisor for the San Antonio Spurs in 2008. Then, he became an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2008. In 2011, he moved to the Houston Rockets as an assistant coach. He stayed in the NBA until 2014.
Leading the Houston Cougars
After his five-year penalty ended, the Houston Cougars hired Sampson as their head coach on April 2, 2014. Sampson helped the team raise money to build a new practice facility and renovate their home arena, the Fertitta Center.
In 2018, Houston finished in the Top 25 rankings for the first time since 1984. They also won their first NCAA tournament game since 1984. In 2019, the Cougars won a school-record 33 games and reached the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament. This was their best performance since the 1980s.
In 2021, Sampson led Houston to win its first conference tournament title since 2010. In the NCAA Tournament, the Cougars reached the Final Four for the first time since 1984. Sampson became one of only a few coaches to reach the Final Four again after a long break. In 2022, his Cougars won both the regular-season and tournament titles in the American Athletic Conference. They reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament and finished with 32 wins. Sampson was named AAC Coach of the Year for the third time.
In 2025, Sampson's Cougars were a top seed in the NCAA tournament. They reached the Final Four and had an amazing comeback win against Duke, winning 70–67 after being far behind. They then played Florida for the championship but lost a close game, 63–65. Sampson is now the second-winningest coach in Houston's history.
NCAA Rules and Consequences
Kelvin Sampson faced issues with NCAA rules during his coaching career. At Oklahoma, the NCAA investigated his team for recruiting violations. They found that Sampson and his staff made many phone calls to recruits that were not allowed. As a result, the NCAA stopped Sampson from recruiting away from campus and making phone calls for one year.
Later, when he was coaching at Indiana, Sampson again faced problems for making calls that were not allowed. Even though he was not supposed to make outbound recruiting calls, he participated in some conference calls with recruits. The NCAA said Sampson had committed serious rule violations and that he had not been truthful about his involvement.
Indiana University started its own investigation. Sampson eventually resigned from his position. The NCAA later put a five-year "show-cause penalty" on Sampson. This meant that if any NCAA school wanted to hire him, they would have to show why he should be allowed to coach, and they would likely face penalties themselves. This penalty made it very difficult for him to coach at a major college level until 2013. When Houston hired him in 2014, he became one of only a few coaches to get a head coaching job after receiving such a penalty.
International Coaching Experience
Sampson has also coached basketball on the international stage. In 2004, he coached the USA Under-21 national team to a gold medal in a tournament in Canada. He was also an assistant coach for the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship. In 1995, he was the head coach for the United States Junior National Team in Greece.
In 1994, Sampson was an assistant coach at the Goodwill Games in Russia, where his team won a bronze medal. In 1993, he coached the West team at the U.S. Olympic Festival, winning a silver medal. In 2012, Sampson was an assistant coach for the Canadian national men's basketball team.
Personal Life
Kelvin Sampson is married to Karen Lowry. They have a daughter named Lauren and a son named Kellen. Both Lauren and Kellen work in basketball at the University of Houston. Lauren is the Men's Basketball Director of External Operations, and Kellen is an assistant coach.
Head Coaching Record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montana Tech Orediggers (Frontier Conference) (1981–1985) | |||||||||
| 1981–82 | Montana Tech | 7–20 | 0–15 | 6th | |||||
| 1982–83 | Montana Tech | 22–9 | 10–5 | 3rd | |||||
| 1983–84 | Montana Tech | 22–7 | 11–4 | T–1st | |||||
| 1984–85 | Montana Tech | 22–9 | 12–3 | 1st | |||||
| Montana Tech: | 73–45 (.619) | 33–27 (.550) | |||||||
| Washington State Cougars (Pacific-10 Conference) (1987–1994) | |||||||||
| 1987–88 | Washington State | 13–16 | 7–11 | 6th | |||||
| 1988–89 | Washington State | 10–19 | 4–14 | 8th | |||||
| 1989–90 | Washington State | 7–22 | 1–17 | 10th | |||||
| 1990–91 | Washington State | 16–12 | 8–10 | T–5th | |||||
| 1991–92 | Washington State | 22–11 | 9–9 | T–5th | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 1992–93 | Washington State | 15–12 | 9–9 | T–5th | |||||
| 1993–94 | Washington State | 20–11 | 10–8 | 4th | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| Washington State: | 103–103 (.500) | 48–78 (.381) | |||||||
| Oklahoma Sooners (Big Eight Conference) (1994–1996) | |||||||||
| 1994–95 | Oklahoma | 23–9 | 9–5 | 3rd | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| 1995–96 | Oklahoma | 18–12 | 8–6 | 3rd | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| Oklahoma Sooners (Big 12 Conference) (1996–2006) | |||||||||
| 1996–97 | Oklahoma | 19–11 | 9–7 | 6th | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| 1997–98 | Oklahoma | 22–11 | 11–5 | T–2nd | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| 1998–99 | Oklahoma | 22–11 | 11–5 | T–2nd | NCAA Division I Sweet 16 | ||||
| 1999–00 | Oklahoma | 27–7 | 12–4 | T–3rd | NCAA Division I Round of 32 | ||||
| 2000–01 | Oklahoma | 26–7 | 12–4 | T–2nd | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| 2001–02 | Oklahoma | 31–5 | 13–3 | 2nd | NCAA Division I Final Four | ||||
| 2002–03 | Oklahoma | 27–7 | 12–4 | 3rd | NCAA Division I Elite Eight | ||||
| 2003–04 | Oklahoma | 20–11 | 8–8 | 7th | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 2004–05 | Oklahoma | 25–8 | 12–4 | T–1st | NCAA Division I Round of 32 | ||||
| 2005–06 | Oklahoma | 20–9 | 11–5 | 3rd | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| Oklahoma: | 280–108 (.722) | 128–60 (.681) | |||||||
| Indiana Hoosiers (Big Ten Conference) (2006–2008) | |||||||||
| 2006–07 | Indiana | 21–11 | 10–6 | 3rd | NCAA Division I Round of 32 | ||||
| 2007–08 | Indiana | 22–4 | 11–2 | – |
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| Indiana: | 43–15 (.741) | 21–8 (.724) | |||||||
| Houston Cougars (American Athletic Conference) (2014–2023) | |||||||||
| 2014–15 | Houston | 13–19 | 4–14 | 10th | |||||
| 2015–16 | Houston | 22–10 | 12–6 | T–3rd | NIT First Round | ||||
| 2016–17 | Houston | 21–11 | 12–6 | 3rd | NIT First Round | ||||
| 2017–18 | Houston | 27–8 | 14–4 | T–2nd | NCAA Division I Round of 32 | ||||
| 2018–19 | Houston | 33–4 | 16–2 | 1st | NCAA Division I Sweet 16 | ||||
| 2019–20 | Houston | 23–8 | 13–5 | T–1st | No postseason held | ||||
| 2020–21 | Houston | 28–4 | 14–3 | 2nd | NCAA Division I Final Four | ||||
| 2021–22 | Houston | 32–6 | 15–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I Elite Eight | ||||
| 2022–23 | Houston | 33–4 | 17–1 | 1st | NCAA Division I Sweet 16 | ||||
| Houston Cougars (Big 12 Conference) (2023–present) | |||||||||
| 2023–24 | Houston | 32–5 | 15–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I Sweet 16 | ||||
| 2024–25 | Houston | 35–5 | 19–1 | 1st | NCAA Division I Runner-up | ||||
| Houston: | 299–84 (.781) | 151–48 (.759) | |||||||
| Total: | 798–355 (.692) | ||||||||
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National champion Conference regular season champion Conference tournament champion |
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- Sampson resigned on February 22, 2008, and was replaced by assistant Dan Dakich for the remainder of the season. Indiana credits the last seven games of the season to Dakich.
- In some sources, Sampson's 1996–97 record with Oklahoma is given as 20–10 overall, 10–6 in Big 12 conference games, based on the fact that Texas Tech, which was 1–1 versus Oklahoma in Big 12 play that season, would later have all its 1996–97 conference wins vacated due to participation by ineligible personnel.
See also
In Spanish: Kelvin Sampson para niños
- List of college men's basketball career coaching wins leaders
- List of NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four appearances by coach
