Kansas's Bill Self Gives Bold Compliment to Kelvin Sampson
In this story:
There are few coaches around the country that have the pedigree and respect that Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson has during his long career.
One of those is Bill Self, who has been the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks since 2003, and whose team just took down the Cougars at home 69-56 in a head-to-head top-15 matchup that had plenty of Big 12 implications.
Despite the two head coaches battling it out, there is a ton of mutual respect between the two as Self gave Sampson flowers about his eligibility regarding the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Greatness Recognizes Greatness
Sampson has been around the sport for over 30 years, and has seen the sport change over time, and has had no problem adapting to the ever-changing rules since beginning his career in 1981 as the Montana State head coach.
“I’m not an expert on judging, except I do know this: there’s not a better ball coach in America than Kelvin Sampson,” Self said postgame to the media. “You don’t have to be in the Hall to be one of the best. There are a lot of great coaches that aren’t. But, certainly, if he’s a finalist, I hope he gets in because I think he’s terrific.”
It didn't take long for other schools to come calling, including Washington State in 1987, followed by a 12-year career with the Oklahoma Sooners in 1994. A jump from the Sooners, though, would land him at the college basketball capital of the country, with the Indiana Hoosiers. It was there, though, that Sampson would run into problems.
Sampson was accused of sending text messages to recruits, which were banned by the NCAA at the time. The Hoosiers were given a five-year show-cause, and Sampson was fired, which kept him out of coaching until 2014. Taking some time away from college, he would take on an assistant's role with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Houston Rockets until returning to college basketball.
Sampson would be named the Cougars' head coach in 2014, and after needing to rebuild the program, he found success in a dominant way. The Cougars have been to seven straight NCAA tournaments, but he is still chasing his first national championship as a head coach.
Still, though, through their seven straight tournament appearances they Cougars have been to the Sweet 16 or better in six of them. He's also garnered individual awards, including six conference coach of the year awards, four from the ACC and two from the Big 12.
For Sampson, those words from Self carry a lot of weight from a legendary coach such as him, but he will have to wait until the new class is revealed on April 4 at 11 a.m. CT.
