KELVIN SAMPSON
(born October 5, 1955)
Current position: Head men’s basketball coach
Current team: Houston Cougars
Current conference: American Athletic Conference (AAC, The American)
Montana Tech record^: 73–45 (.619)
Washington State record: 103-103 (.500)
Oklahoma record: 281-107 (.724)
Indiana record: 43-15 (.741)
Houston record: 232-74 (.758)
Overall record^: 732-344 (.680)
CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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NCAA Tournament Appearances: 18 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023)
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NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 7 (1999, 2002, 2003, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023)
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NCAA Tournament Final Four: 2 (2002, 2021)
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NIT Appearances: 4 (1992, 2004, 2016, 2017)
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AAC Regular Season Champion: 4 (2019, 2020, 2022, 2023)
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Big 12 Regular Season Champion: 1 (2005)
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Frontier (NAIA) Regular Season Champion: 2 (1984, 1985)
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AAC Tournament Champion: 2 (2021, 2022)
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Big 12 Tournament Champion: 3 (2001, 2002, 2003)
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Frontier (NAIA) Tournament Champion: 3 (1983, 1884, 1985)
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He reached 700 Career Victories vs Northern Colorado (2022)
AWARDS
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AP Coach of the Year: 1 (1995)
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NABC Coach of the Year: 1 (2002)
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Henry Iba Award: 1 (1995)
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John McLendon Award: 1 (2021)
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Ben Jobe Award: 1 (2022)
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AAC Coach of the Year: 4 (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023)
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Big Eight Coach of the Year: 1 (1995)
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Pac-12 Coach of the Year: 1 (1991)
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USA Basketball Development Coach of the Year: (2004)
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Jim Thorpe Coach of the Year: (1995)
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Chevrolet Coach of the Year: (2022)
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Clarence “Big House” Gaines National Coach of the Year presented by NSMA: (2019)
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Garden of the Game presented by the NABC for Service for what the UH Basketball staff did during Hurricane Harvey: (2018)
FACTS
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Hometown: Laurinburg, North Carolina
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Alma Mater: UNC-Pembroke (BS, 1978) / Michigan State (MA, 1980)
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He is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and is the only Native American head coach to lead a team to the Final Four and the first to coach a No.1 Team in the Nation.
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Played basketball, football, and baseball at Pembroke High School (NC)
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Captained of his HS basketball team, playing for his father John W. “Ned” Sampson; went on to play at D-II Pembroke State (now UNC Pembroke)
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Started his coaching career as a graduate assistant under legendary Michigan State head coach Jud Heathcote
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Spent one year as an assistant at NAIA Montana Tech before taking over as head coach in 1981
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Went 73-45 overall in four seasons as the Orediggers’ head coach
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Moved up to Division I in 1985 as an assistant to Len Stevens at Washington State; took over as head coach two years later
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Went 103-103 during his tenure at WSU, leading the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament in his final season (1994-95)
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Took over the Oklahoma program in 1994, leading the Sooners to the postseason in each of his twelve years as head coach (11 NCAA Tournaments, 1 NIT); made it to the Final Four in 2002
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Moved to the NBA for the next six seasons, spending three years each as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks (under Scott Skiles) and Houston Rockets (under Kevin McHale)
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Acting Houston Rockets head coach for 13 games during the 2012-13 season, leading team to 7-6 record
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Returned to the college ranks in April 2014 when he was hired as the new head coach of the Houston Cougars
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Led the Cougars to an at-large bid in the 2018 NCAA Tournament after falling short in the AAC Tournament final
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A year later, Sampson’s Cougars claimed the outright AAC regular season title and won his second straight AAC COY award
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Reached career victory #732 in 2023 (first 73 wins came at the NAIA level)
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In 2021, Sampson led the Cougars to their first NCAA Final Four in nearly 40 years; Sampson won the John McLendon Award
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Won 31 games in 2022-23 and earned a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament
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Along with his wife, Karen, has a daughter, Lauren, and a son, Kellen (an assistant coach at Houston)
