“You’re not a loser in anything until you quit. Don’t quit.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Dreams do come true.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“My father had four jobs every summer. He taught driver’s education. He sold World Book Encyclopedias. He sold life insurance. He worked the tobacco market. From the time I was really, really small, I went with him. Obviously, I didn’t get paid.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“All I wanted to do is coach in the NBA. I didn’t want anything to do with college basketball.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Little old University of Houston jumping up, swinging with the big boys, and that’s something to take pride in. I’m happy for our fans, I’m happy for our alumni, but more importantly, I’m happy for our players.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Being Native American, we were different than everybody else, but I never felt like I was different.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“When I first got to Oklahoma, it was really a blessing that coach Sutton was at Oklahoma State. He made me a better coach.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The one thing about Lumbee people is that there’s so many stereotypes about Native Americans, especially reservation Native Americans, and we all tend to get lumped under that umbrella. But the Lumbee are non-reservation. I grew up no different than anybody would in normal American communities.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Racism was a big part of our community. I’m not going to revisit history, and I’m not going to call out those communities, but the communities we grew up around, we were treated like second- or third-class citizens.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The tobacco markets I worked in were segregated. If you went to the bathroom, there was ‘White,’ there was ‘Colored,’ and there was ‘Other.’ I grew up in that.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“With federal recognition, the Lumbee Tribe would become a full player in Indian country, no longer second class Indians in the eyes of the federal government. As such, we would employ our substantial skills and abilities to help correct problems faced by Indian country and make significant contributions.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Sometimes Kellen calls me ‘Coach.’ Sometimes he calls me ‘Pops.’”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The most overrated thing is that you’re a good defensive team because of your coaching. No. You’re a good defensive team because you care and because it’s important to you.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“You don’t want to get stuck playing 40 minutes a game with your small lineup.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The bad teams in our league are the ones who don’t pass the ball well.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Teams that just play on one side of the floor are going to struggle against defenses that load up on that side.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Guys like Andre Miller and Kevin Garnett – they’re posting up hoping a second guy will run at them so they can pass. You’re better just playing one-on-one in the post if you can.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“One of the things I enjoy most about what I do is I can give my father joy.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I was not real good at anything. I was just OK at everything.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Coaching is competitively addictive. It just gets in your blood, especially if you win.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“My personality is more like my mother’s. She was fiery. She had more of a temper. I always thought she had enough determination that she could do anything. She could fix anything. I think all children need that feeling from their parents.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“My main influence was my father. He was a great high school coach. I thought one day, if I got lucky, I could be a head high school coach.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Tim is old school. He plays that way. That’s why a lot of fans identify more with a Tim Heskett than with someone who is more dynamic. The more dynamic guy might be more pleasing to the eye, but he doesn’t contribute any more to his team winning than Tim does.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Some guys have all this talent, and you wonder why they can’t put it all together. Well, they don’t do any of the little things.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Sometimes the harder you work, the more likely you are to maybe break a rule.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Tough teams win when the shots are not going.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I’m 50 years old and been a college coach for 23 years, but after 12 years, no matter where you are, there are ups and downs.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I’ve had kind of a nondescript college career.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Indiana basketball is bigger than one person.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I don’t think the fans pull for or against a coach.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Karen is as good a coach’s wife as I’ve ever been around, and she’s better than most. She loves basketball and has a great understanding of my responsibilities, my possession.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“One of the first things people think of when they think of Native Americans is reservations. We didn’t have any idea what that was. We were just young kids growing up in normal blue-collar America.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“My dad was a high school coach for 30-plus years in North Carolina, and he was inducted into the North Carolina High School Coaches Hall of Fame. He’s the best coach I’ve known, in every way, all the way around – relationships, motivation, going the extra mile, always putting his kids first and foremost.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“In my formative years, when I was a little kid, I’d get out of elementary school, and because my mother worked as a nurse, I’d have to find a way to get a ride to the high school and watch my dad’s team practice.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“My dad has always been my role model.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I always talk about my dad because he was a coach, and I became a coach.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I had to take care of my family. That was my No. 1 goal.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I always coached mostly the have-not schools.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“You coach at a have-not school, and you have to have a competitiveness and a resolve and resiliency about you that’s different, or you’ll never make it. You’ve got to find a way to do more with less.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I’ve had teams where we’ve had to get on a bus for 200 miles, play a game, and then drive 200 miles back.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“In basketball, there are no trap games. If you walk out on that court and lose a game, it’s because the other team beat you. You played poorly. But there’s no trap game.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I’m saying when young men get to the NCAA Tournament, let’s find a way to get their parents and their brothers and sisters a plane ticket and a hotel room. I don’t think that’s asking too much.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I loved the NBA. I really did.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I used to think 63 was old.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I don’t think I was a good enough coach to help an NBA team win a game when I first got to that league.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“There’s some things assistant coaches aren’t ready to do. They’re not the head coach.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“One of the ways to use your depth is to play with speed.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“When I was at Oklahoma, I always felt like I had to control the game because we didn’t have great scorers. So, I had to figure a way to win.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I never thought the NCAA violations for the phone call would ever rise to the level it did.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“It was never my intent to come back to college.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The University of Houston is a program that should have national relevance.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“When you decide to go into coaching, obviously you don’t forget why. That’s to help develop young people, help them chase their dreams, help them reach their goals.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Washington State was a tough recruiting spot.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Sometimes players just take a little while to develop.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I have made the very difficult decision to leave my position as head coach of the men’s basketball team at Indiana University.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“You remember all your teachers.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“My heading was NBA head coach. I didn’t want to be back in college for a lot of reasons.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“If you are an Oklahoma football fan, you have one of the best football programs in the nation.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The coaching community is really tight-knit.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Nobody believed in us. Everybody made fun of Houston basketball. I can’t say I blamed ’em.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“We have the wrong people chasing Osama bin Laden. It ought to be athletic directors and reporters. They’ll find you.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I liked coaching in an underdog situation.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I was comfortable in Pullman; I really was.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I didn’t want to end my coaching career as an assistant in the NBA.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“What’s an easier way to say ‘bad?’ Let’s go with ‘abysmal.’”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I like that there is a lot of work to be done.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I learned a lot in the NBA.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The one thing that young coaches should do is if there is an NBA team in your area, get to training camp and see the coaching that goes on.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“There are incredible decisions made in a 48-minute game with a 24-second shot clock and the last two minutes of a game.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Any time you work with your son, it’s special.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Scott Skiles was a master tactician – they’re all masters, but he is elite. He knew how to manipulate his team from an X’s-and-O’s standpoint.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Kevin McHale was a master communicator and knows how to coach stars, and that’s a unique gift because you take an old-school guy that’s used to coaching his way, he’d have a hard time coaching them cats now, but Kevin knows how, and he has the patience of Job.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“You choose who you want to be.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The reason you get into coaching in the first place is to help and develop, try to make people better.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I’m really proud of what we are building at the University of Houston, and hope I spend the rest of my career here.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The most important thing in the world to me is my faith and my family.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I just coach my team. I just focus on coaching my team.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The people who know me, know me. Those are the only ones I worry about.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“When I was at Oklahoma, I didn’t think it could get any bigger than that.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I came to Indiana for one reason: I think you can win championships at Indiana.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“As an outsider, when you think of Indiana, you think about a place that not only has championships but a championship tradition.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I’ve always been a goal-oriented person.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“The thing that surprised me is you hear a lot about NBA guys, do they really want to be coached? My experience is they really do want to be coached. They want a plan: ‘How are we going to win the game?’ And they’ll follow that plan.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Scott Skiles is one of the best coaches in the NBA, someone I observe and learn from on a day-to-day basis.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I’ve been taking off my tie for a lot of years. When I take it off, I usually throw it down.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“There were a lot of things that happened at Indiana that I was proud of.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I learned to be more flexible offensively, to not talk as much in practice.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Coaching is what I love to do, and I think I’m pretty good at it.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Getting to the NBA really helped me personally on a lot of levels. I liked it so much that I wanted to stay there.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“It’s a big deal to get to the NCAA Tournament.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I have never intentionally provided false and misleading information to the NCAA.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Iowa State’s a great team; I know how tough they are in Ames.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“You just have to be secure and understand what your beliefs are and how determined you are.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“No one would have ever thought College GameDay would be coming to the University of Houston, I know that.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Pembroke is my foundation. Everything that I’ve become is because of those people.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I didn’t realize the difference between coaching college and coaching the NBA. It’s a totally different animal.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“I learned quickly in the NBA that you keep one eye open at all times and one ear closed. You can’t react to everything you hear or see.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“When I left college ball, I think I was prepared to coach a team, but I don’t think I was prepared to help the team win.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“In this business, a lot of coaches are running around thinking they’re the reason their teams are winning.”
― Kelvin Sampson
“Leaving Oklahoma for Illinois is not the no-brainer some think it is.”
― Kelvin Sampson
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