Many IU basketball fans don’t want to hear anything positive when it comes to former head coach Kelvin Sampson.
And that’s fair.
We’re not here to try to disabuse the majority of you who see him as a cheater who wrecked the Indiana program and got what he deserved.
But an honest analysis does require you to take note of his success since returning to the college game. Sampson has won 27 or more games in six of his last seven seasons at Houston. He’s won 32 or more games for three straight years, and four of the last six seasons.
A few years ago, many thought Sampson was only doing that because he was in a mid-major conference. But he went 32-5 in Houston’s first year in the Big 12 a season ago, and the Cougars are 22-4 so far this year. He’s clearly doing an exceptional job.
And that naturally leaves you to wonder — if things had gone differently at Indiana, and Sampson was still the coach — would he be experiencing all of this success in Bloomington?
Sampson told CBS’ Matt Norlander it took the experience of getting fired, and the opportunities that came about as a result to get him to where he is today as a coach.
“What might have been if not for what transpired in 2007 and 2008? Sampson is quick to admit he wouldn’t be so revered. He told me he thinks he would’ve been fired even if he got to coach in the NBA,” Norlander wrote.
As it turned out, a relationship Sampson developed with legendary NBA coach Gregg Popovich before his time at IU provided a quick transition to the NBA and changed the course of his career.
“I got fired (by IU) on a Friday morning,” Sampson told Norlander. “At 2 that afternoon, Pop (ovich) called me and said the Spurs want to hire you and you can pick your title. I was unemployed from 11:30 until about 3 o’clock.”
Studying under Popovich and others in the NBA caused Sampson to see the game in an entirely new way.
“I absorbed the learning, I learned so much,” Sampson said. “It was almost like a reboot,” he told CBS.
Ironically, Popovich is from northwest Indiana, as was another NBA coach who Sampson credited for helping him process the game in a new way.
Sampson also worked under former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Scott Skiles, who hails from Plymouth, Ind.
“That dude (Skiles) was a basketball savant. I learned so much from him,” Sampson said. “It’s like, where have I been my whole life? I’ve been sheltered.”
Sampson has never been forthright about the poor decisions he made at Indiana. He should probably do that one day. He might get a bit more sympathy from folks in the Hoosier State. But there’s no denying his ability as a head coach.
The now 69-year-old Sampson reentered the college ranks in 2014 after being away for six years. He has 785 career wins and will almost certainly end up in the Hall of Fame.
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