SAN ANTONIO – Roughly five years ago, somewhere between nothing and everything, Fran Fraschilla asked Kelvin Sampson why.
In the wake of his ugly exit from Indiana after NCAA violations, Sampson had transitioned to the NBA, where he spent more than six years as an adviser and assistant coach. Sampson built for himself a sturdy reputation in the pros, so much so that he started to look like an appealing candidate for a head coaching job there.
Then, in 2014, he left the Houston Rockets’ staff to become head coach at University of Houston, an American Athletic school with one NCAA Tournament appearance in 22 years.
The Cougars — by this point a generation removed from the halcyon days of Phi Slamma Jamma and three consecutive Final Fours under Guy Lewis in the 1980s — had tried everything. Pat Foster went to three tournaments in seven years and never won a game in the NCAAs. Alvin Brooks, Ray McCallum, Tom Penders, James Dickey and program legend Clyde Drexler all combined for one tournament appearance.
Once, in those early days, Sampson found himself commiserating to his wife, Karen, who eventually grew so tired of her husband’s complaints she turned the conversation around.
“She said, ‘Why don’t you stop talking about what you don’t have and focus on what you do have?’” Sampson said Sunday, remembering the moment. “I said, ‘We don’t have nothin.'"
That’s a long time ago now. Saturday night, Houston will play Duke in its second Final Four appearance in five years. The Cougars have become a model for roster consistency in an era of transience, a standard bearer for tough-love coaching the sport increasingly considers outdated and, very simply, one of the best programs in the country.
None of which answered Fraschilla’s question those years ago, when he asked Sampson what brought him back to college.
“I needed,” Sampson told Fraschilla, “something to fix.”
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Kelvin Sampson fixing Houston basketball and reputation
Fraschilla, a longtime coach and ESPN analyst, wondered, when Sampson told him he took the Houston job looking for “something to fix,” whether his ambition held two meanings.
“He wanted something to fix the way he fixed Montana Tech or Washington State or Oklahoma,” Fraschilla said, “And in fixing Houston, I think he also fixed what he perceives as his reputation.”
It’s been 17 years since Sampson was let go at Indiana, after less than two years coaching the five-time national champions. Once, the Hoosiers hoped he might do in Bloomington what he’s now doing in Houston, but instead NCAA infractions related to impermissible contact with recruits — including repeat offenses while on ...
