Sources: Kelvin Sampson a leading candidate for University of Houston job

Damn, a Sampson-UH thread and a Lin reference somehow makes it in here.

 

Good riddance, get a real defensive-minded coach in there.

Not his crap "defensive" principles.

 

I would feel sorry for the University of Houston if they hired this guy

It's more of his lack of integrity that I feel is the reason he will never return to the college coaching ranks.

Well, correction -- money talks. If he brings a program/school lots of money in terms of wins then I'm sure they would turn a blind eye to his short comings.

 

Recruiting is what wins in college basketball. You need to be able to restock one superstar per year out of maybe 10 or 15 nationwide.

UNC -2
Kent -2
Duke - 1
Lou - 1
Kan - 2
Tx/Baylor - 1
Mich/Mich St/ OSU - 1
PAC 10 - 1

Good Luck.

 

This.

When the top players are mostly one and done, how much of a role do you think the coach really plays? Yes, they can improve those players and sometimes put them in a better position to win, but the coaching scheme isn't what gets you a great college team, it's the coach's ability to work with the recruiting office to bring in top tier talent year in and out.

IF Sampson helps in recruitment, it's because he might be a bigger "name" than some of the other prospective candidates. However, it's not like his name is going to have any pull over a guy like Calipari.

Unless Sampson can show that he's an *exceptional* college coach and can improve the win percentage with his existing talent, I don't expect his impact to be all THAT substantial.

 

Sampson is probably keeping his options open. Houston hasn't picked up McHale's option yet.

 

If they let McHale go, Rockets will probably hire a proven coach.

 

The fact that most top players are "one and done" actually makes coaching more important. Why? Because it makes juniors and seniors MORE important. Physically, 21-23 year olds are far bigger and playing 3-4 years in a system and with a coaching staff becomes far more important. Hell, Calipari has only won one Championship with all that talent. Is it a substitute for elite talent? No it isn't, but you can get fairly far in the tournament without blue chip top 5lottery talent, look at Louisville last year and this year.

As far as Sampson recruiting, he recruited well in college and was doing very well recruiting at IU.

Something else to consider is the fact that Sampson was a top assistant with the Rockets, Bucks and Spurs all will be VERY attractive to top prospects. The goal for them is to get to the NBA and Sampson has plenty of connections.

I don't think that Sampson will magically make UH a top 5 program, but he is an excellent coach and good recruiter. He can get an already talented UH team in the tournament with a chance to win a couple games with a little luck and improve their recruiting efforts.

 

If UH can pull the money to hire Sampson this is a no brain hire. He would be the most qualified coach UH has ever hired in any sport and only Jack Pardee comes close. I love how everyone calls him a cheat and he would get us put on probation blah blah blah. Sampson's violations were sending texts which is perfectly legal now. Calapari committed way worse offenses and he is the 2nd highest paid coach in college basketball.

Whats the worst thing that can happen we get put on probation and miss the tournament we have missed it the past 25yrs so we are pretty used to it.

 

If KS was hired at UH and school does get put on probation has to forfeit wins it wouldn't really be too big of a deal. Dickey's record in the last 4 years was 64-62 or something? Mediocre is still terrible.

 

This is great news especially considering that TSU is not going back to the NCAA Tournament anytime soon, especially since Aaric Murray is leaving the team after his previous senoir year to be a missed NBA draft pick future D-League All Star. Maybe the Rockets should draft him since he's a 7 footer that can knock down the mid range and three pointer, and can also block shots. He dropped 48 points on Temple.

 

You want him? You can have him, please!

 

UH needs to go after Shaka Smart, thought he was going to Marquette because it is close to were he is from but dude said no. I would at least give him a call. I'm sure he could be very effective in recruiting this area and bring some life back to the program.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Yahoo Sources w/ @<a href="https://twitter.com/YahooForde">YahooForde</a>: University of Houston, Kelvin Sampson progressing in talks to make him head coach. <a href="http://t.co/CA6CYJDQEE" title="http://yhoo.it/1h4u9Tt">yhoo.it/1h4u9Tt</a></p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/449722253694205952" data-datetime="2014-03-29T01:38:35+00:00">March 29, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Very nice!

 

Over/under 2.5 years on UH being under probation?

 

Could also be within (Chris Finch).

 

I aint woried about recruiting. If Dickey can get 4 and 5 stars to come to UH then I know for a fact Sampson (who has a better track record) can bring in recruits.

To the person who said we should take a look after Smart. I doubt he is going to leave VCU until he gets the right opputunity. Marquette wasnt the chance he was looking for, and UH wouldnt be either.

I would love Sampson as the HC of UH.

 

Starting to look like this deal has real legs.

Could be VERY interesting to see what Sampson can do with UH. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like there's untapped potential there under the right regime...

 

So basically we may get a new defensive coach next year? Hmmm...very nice indeed