No. 2 seed Tennessee (30-7) will play No. 1 seed Houston (33-4) Sunday in the Elite Eight of the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Tipoff between the Vols and Cougars in the Midwest Region final is slated for 2:20 p.m. EDT at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Kelvin Sampson has served as Houston's head coach since 2014. He also served as a head coach at Montana Tech (1981-85), Washington State (1987-94), Oklahoma (1994-2006) and Indiana (2006-08).
During Sampson's tenures at Oklahoma and Indiana, former Tennessee basketball head coach Jerry Green was his director of basketball operations. Green was hired by Sampson in 2005 with the Sooners and would retire in 2007 after the two went to Indiana.
Green coached the Vols from 1997-2001 and was one of Tennessee's most successful head coaches, compiling a record of 89-36. He guided Tennessee to four consecutive 20-plus win seasons and four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Green was named SEC Coach of the Year in 1998 and led the Vols to a 2000 SEC regular-season championship. Tennessee and Green advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2000.
Sampson began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State under head coach Jud Heathcote during the 1979-80 season. He was also an assistant coach in college at Montana Tech (1980-81) and Washington State (1985-87), and in the NBA with Milwaukee (2008-11) and the Rockets (2011-14).
In his head coaching career, Sampson has reached the Final Four in 2002 and 2021. He has also been named a two-time AP Coach of the Year (1995, 2004), while winning four Big 12 Tournament championships and three Big 12 regular-season titles.
This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Kelvin Sampson's ties with former Tennessee head coach Jerry Green
