Kelvin Sampson Delivers Powerful Message to Fans Regarding NIL Funding
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Houston basketball has been a top basketball program for nearly a decade, and head coach Kelvin Sampson has continued that success even in the NIL era.
The Cougars are at a constant disadvantage because of funding, and it goes to show just how good Houston's coaches are at competing despite far less funding to assemble a roster.
Sampson had a very interesting talk about this issue on Tuesday to stress the importance of supporting all of Houston's athletic programs in today's world.
Kelvin Sampson Stresses Importance of Funding and Supporting
Sampson took over the head coaching job at the University of Houston on April 2, 2014, and he really had to revive a program that sat towards the bottom of the American Athletic Conference.
He went on to emphasize how bad of a state the program was when he arrived on campus.
"We were closer to Texas Southern than we were to Texas," Sampson said. "We had no money."
Now, Sampson has turned Houston's basketball program into a national powerhouse, and the Cougars finish in the top-10 each and every season.
Houston's head football coach, Willie Fritz, has also seen success since taking over the program two seasons ago, and he just recorded his first 10-win season in the red and white.
"If you want Coach (Willie Fritz) to win at the level LSU does, (do) you know the difference financially between Houston and LSU? It is the Grand Canyon," Sampson told sports journalist Chris Baldwin with Paper City Mag. "Yet because of a guy like coach Fritz, we're competitive."
Sampson didn't stop there; he urged fans not just to support football and basketball because of their success, but to support all athletic programs at the University of Houston.
"I don't have a lot more years left and that's fine," Sampson said. "So I can say things like this. I'm saying it for (women's basketball coach) Matt (Mitchell). And I'm saying it for Willie. I'm saying it for volleyball, our swimming, and diving. I am saying it for our new baseball coach. We've got to be supported at a higher level."
To put things in perspective, Baldwin brought up when UConn head basketball coach Dan Hurley estimated that you need at least a $14 million budget to compete for a national championship in today's game.
Sampson gave his honest opinion on the current state of his roster for next season.
"I could stand up here and blow smoke at you and say we're going to win a national championship," Sampson said. "I don't know if we've got a good enough roster. We're going to be good, but there are teams in the Big 12 whose rosters are significantly more expensive than ours... and that's the name of the game today."
Houston athletics is in an overall great state, with so many talented coaches across the board, alongside Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Eddie Nunez; however, the financial gap between Houston and the other top programs is so significant that it places a very low ceiling for the Cougars as a whole.
Without at least comparable support for Houston as other top programs in any sport, the Cougars will have to continue to do more with less and be at a disadvantage.
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Ashton Grissom is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He is currently a senior at the University of Houston and majoring in Sports Media Production with a minor in Marketing and Spanish. He also works for two student organizations: The Cougar and CoogTV. You can find Grissom on his Instagram (@ashtonagrissom8) or Twitter (@ashtongrissom8).