Ironically, in the age of NIL and player empowerment, Houston basketball fans can point to an antiquated sanction for their national championship run in 2025.
A five-year show-cause penalty against Sampson from his time at Oklahoma and Indiana has come back and benefited the Cougars, as the program plays for its first national championship against No. 1 Florida at 8:50 p.m. Monday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
At one point in his career, the 69-year-old Sampson was on a nice trajectory after turning around programs including Montana Tech, Washington State and Oklahoma. Before he could do much with Indiana, the NCAA hit Sampson with sanctions and a show-cause penalty that sent him to the NBA for a few seasons.
Now back in college basketball since 2014, Sampson has helped lead the Cougars to at least the Sweet 16 in six straight uninterrupted seasons. With a national championship win, Sampson would cross 200 wins with the Cougars.
Here's how Sampson ended up at Houston and has led the Cougars to a potential national championship:
How did Kelvin Sampson end up at Houston?
Following success stints with Montana Tech, Washington State and Oklahoma, Sampson's career was on an upward trajectory, and he ended up replacing Mike Davis after he resigned at Indiana in 2006. Sampson became the second minority coach in Indiana basketball history, joining Davis.
The Hoosiers were coming off a 19-12 2005-06 season and lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Sampson led Indiana to a 21-11 record in his first season and reached the second round of March Madness.
However, following a 22-4 start to the 2007-08 season, Sampson was forced to resign and accept a $750,000 amid NCAA investigation into recruiting violations on Feb. 22, 2008. The NCAA found that Sampson and his staff made upwards of 100 impermissible phone calls to recruits in his first season with the Hoosiers. It was previously determined they made more than 550 at his previous stop at Oklahoma.
Sampson was already on NCAA-imposed probation for his violations with the Sooners. He was also accused of lying to NCAA investigators. In November, the NCAA announced a five-year show-cause penalty against Sampson.
Sampson had already been hired by Greg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs as an advisor after his resignation. He then accepted a position as an assistant coach under Scott Skiles with the Milwaukee Bucks at the time of the announced sanctions. Sampson joined the Houston Rockets coaching staff under head coach Kevin McHale in 2011.
In 2014, after Houston coach James Dickey resigned following a 64-62 record in four years with the Cougars, the program hired Sampson as its new coach. Then-Houston vice president for intercollegiate athletics Mack Rhoades said he spoke to former ...
