Houston basketball enters Monday's national championship game against Florida one win away from securing the program's first men's NCAA Tournament title.
But the Cougars aren't the only ones that are a win away from history.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, one of college basketball's top coaches, heads into the national championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio sitting on career win No. 799. A win would further associate his name among the upper echelon of college basketball coaches.
Sampson already has coached the Cougars to one of the greatest comebacks in Final Four history. Houston used an 11-1 run over the last 1:14 of the second half and its No. 1 ranked defense in the country to pull off a come-from-behind win against No. 1 Duke in the Final Four on Saturday.
Here's a deeper look at the highlights of Sampson's career ahead of Monday's national championship game:
Kelvin Sampson career record
- Kelvin Sampson's career win-loss record: 799-353
Sampson has an overall record of 799-353 going into Monday night's national championship game against Florida. Of his 799 wins, 299 (or 37.4%) of them have come at Houston.
What Sampson has done at Houston is impressive, especially since the Cougars joined the Big 12 before last season afternine years in the American Athletic Conference.
In two years in the Big 12, which prior to this year was considered to be one of the toughest conferences in college basketball, Sampson has led the Cougars to back-to-back outright Big 12 regular-season titles and a Big 12 conference tournament title this season.
But what the Cougars have done in the Big 12 under Sampson just touches the surface of Houston's successes in his tenure. Under Sampson, Houston has won at least 30 games in nine seasons, made five consecutive Sweet 16 appearances, two Final Fours and has been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament three times — and once when in the AAC, which is hard for a member of a mid-major conference to do.
Here's a year-by-year breakdown of how the Cougars have fared under Sampson:
- 2014-15 (Houston): 13-19
- 2015-16 ...
