Kelvin Sampson facts for kids
Sampson in 2023
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| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Houston |
| Conference | Big 12 |
| Record | 279–82 (.773) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | October 5, 1955 Laurinburg, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1973–1978 | UNC Pembroke |
| 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 | 778–353 (.688) |
| Tournaments | 26–19 (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 famous 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 Family
Kelvin Sampson was born in the Lumbee Native American community of Deep Branch in Robeson County, North Carolina. He was a great student and athlete at Pembroke High School. He was captain of his high school basketball team for two years and played for his father, John W. "Ned" Sampson. His father was one of the 500 Lumbee Native Americans who bravely stood up to the Ku Klux Klan in 1958. This event is celebrated every year as the Battle of Hayes Pond.
Kelvin later 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 won an award for being an outstanding physical education student.
After college, Sampson earned a master's degree in coaching from Michigan State University. He also gained experience as a graduate assistant coach there.
Kelvin is married to Karen Lowry. They have two children, Lauren and Kellen. Lauren works for the University of Houston's men's basketball team, and Kellen is an assistant coach there.
College Coaching Journey
After leaving Michigan State, Sampson became an assistant coach at Montana Tech. He later became the head coach and led the team to a 73–45 record in his last four years. Before he arrived, Montana Tech had only won 17 games in three years! Sampson helped them win three Frontier Conference championships and was named coach of the year twice.
Coaching at Washington State
In 1988, Sampson became the head coach of the Washington State Cougars. He led the team to the NIT in 1992, which was their first postseason appearance since 1983. He was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 1992. In 1994, he took the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 years. He is one of only four coaches to win 20 or more games in a single season at Washington State.
Coaching at Oklahoma
Sampson became the head coach at the University of Oklahoma in 1994. In his first year, he was named national coach of the year by several groups. He led the Sooners to nine straight seasons with 20 or more wins. His teams made it to the postseason every year he was there. This included a "Sweet 16" appearance in 1999, a "Final Four" appearance in 2002, and an "Elite Eight" appearance in 2003.
His teams also won the Big 12 tournament three times in a row from 2001 to 2003. Sampson is known as "Mr. Blue Shirt" because he always wears a blue dress shirt when coaching.
Coaching at Indiana
In 2006, Sampson became the head coach at Indiana University. In his first season, he led the team to a 21–11 record and another trip to the NCAA Tournament.
However, in 2008, Sampson had to resign from Indiana. This was because of rules violations related to how coaches can talk to new players they want to recruit. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has strict rules about this. Sampson was later given a five-year period where it was very difficult for him to coach at a major college level.
NBA Coaching Experience
After leaving college coaching for a while, Kelvin Sampson worked as an assistant coach in the NBA. He was an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks from 2008 to 2011. Then, he joined the Houston Rockets as an assistant coach from 2011 to 2014.
Coaching the Houston Cougars
In 2014, Kelvin Sampson became the head coach for the Houston Cougars men's basketball team. He helped the university raise money to build new practice facilities and renovate their arena, the Fertitta Center.
Under Sampson, the Cougars have achieved great success:
- In 2018, they finished in the Top 25 rankings for the first time since 1984.
- In 2019, they won a school-record 33 games and reached the "Sweet Sixteen" in the NCAA Tournament.
- In 2021, Sampson led them to their first conference tournament championship since 2010. They also made it to the "Final Four" in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1984.
- In 2022, despite injuries to key players, his team won both the regular-season and tournament titles in the American Athletic Conference. They also reached the "Elite Eight" in the NCAA Tournament. Sampson was named AAC Coach of the Year for the third time.
Sampson is now the second-winningest coach in Houston's history, right behind the legendary Hall of Famer Guy Lewis.
Rules and Fair Play in College Sports
In college sports, there are rules set by the NCAA to make sure everyone plays fair, especially when coaches try to recruit new players. These rules are important to keep things equal for all teams and students.
During Kelvin Sampson's time at Oklahoma and Indiana, there were times when his teams broke some of these rules. These rules mainly involved how coaches could communicate with high school players they wanted to join their teams. For example, there were rules about how many phone calls or text messages coaches could send.
When rules are broken, the NCAA investigates. If they find that rules were indeed broken, there can be consequences for the coach and the team. These consequences are meant to encourage fair play and make sure everyone follows the rules in the future. Sampson faced some penalties because of these issues, which affected his ability to coach at certain levels for a period of time.
International Basketball Experience
Kelvin Sampson has also coached basketball on the international stage.
- In 2004, he coached the USA Under-21 national team to a gold medal.
- He was an assistant coach for the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship.
- He also coached the United States Junior National Team in Greece in 1995.
- In 1994, he was an assistant coach for the Goodwill Games team in Russia, where they won a bronze medal.
- In 2012, Sampson was an assistant coach for the Canadian national men's basketball team.
Head Coaching Records
| 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 | 15–3 | 7–0 | ||||||
| Houston: | 279–82 (.773) | 139–47 (.747) | |||||||
| Total: | 778–353 (.688) | ||||||||
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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.
Images for kids
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Kelvin Sampson in 2023
