Houston men’s basketball Head Coach Kelvin Sampson raises the Cougar Paw and looks off into the distance after winning an NCAA college men’s basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025 in Houston, Texas. | Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar
As Houston fans and students joyously filled the entrance of the Guy V. Lewis Development Center with red and white to celebrate the Cougars‘ second trip to the NCAA Final Four in four years, Coach Kelvin Sampson took a moment to savor the chants of “MVP, MVP, MVP.”
A scene that 10 years ago could only be located in one’s imagination, once upon a time Sampson could be found wandering around campus followed by the Spirit of Houston band, imploring students to support the school’s basketball team. A team that at the time couldn’t find much success on the court, a far cry from the legendary days of Phi Slama Jama.
Upon Sampson’s arrival, the Cougars sat near the bottom of the American Athletic Conference, and boasted a fan base representative of the program’s standings: grim.
“Nobody cared about basketball here, I had to change some attitudes,” Sampson said.
Determined to relight the spark of Houston basketball, Sampson spent the next few years revamping the program into one that the city would be proud to root for and athletes would want to play for.
Garnering support and the will to win from university president Renu Khator and chairman Tilman Fertitta, Sampson was able to begin phase one by putting together resources for a respectable basketball program.
“We were at the bottom, didn’t charter, didn’t feed the kids, didn’t have a film room,” Sampson said.
Now, a decade later, he stands as the CBS Sports Coach of the Year, on the brink of bringing Houston its first NCAA National Championship, soaking in the excitement on the steps of a development center that back then wasn’t much more than a patch of dirt and a bus stop.
“Where we started and now look where we’re going this weekend, sometimes it doesn’t seem possible,” Sampson said.
As Final Four weekend began exactly 200 miles away from the Fertitta Center, Sampson and his Cougars tuned out the noise of mainstream media, ignored the chatter surrounding other teams in the tournament and focused on the goal ahead: advancing to the elusive National Championship game for the first time in over four decades.
Duke University stood as the final obstacle en route to a chance at becoming National Champions.
In the final moments of the semifinal game, facing a deficit on college basketball’s biggest stage, Houston showed the grit and resilience that Sampson has built the Cougars’ culture on and pulled off an improbable comeback victory.
“I hear what people say, Duke this, Duke that,” Sampson said. “But, don’t sleep on Houston.”
With the National Championship game set for Monday night at 7:50 p.m., the team is focused on fulfilling a request made by the crowd of red and white that stood outside the Guy V. Lewis Development Center: “Bring it home.”
