After Kansas basketball lost on the road to Houston earlier this week, Jayhawks head coach Bill Self spoke to reporters postgame about Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson. The Hall of Fame coach had nothing but good things to say about the 2024 AP Coach of the Year.
“What [Kelvin Sampson] has done in his time here is the best job that anybody’s done, in my opinion, in America in that period of time,” Self proclaimed.
Asked Kansas’ Bill Self about the job Kelvin Sampson has done at Houston..
— Chancellor Johnson (@ChancellorTV) March 4, 2025
From one hall of fame coach to another— he gave him the ultimate compliment: pic.twitter.com/GXcc99yZ9N
Bill Self praises Kelvin Sampson's coaching ability following Houston loss
What Sampson has done since arriving at Houston in 2014 is remarkable. He holds a 290-83 record (.777 win percentage) with six NCAA Tournament appearances and a Final Four. If not for Jamal Shead’s injury in the Sweet 16 last year, the Cougars would have been one of the favorites to win it all.
Houston’s Senior Night celebration went viral when Sampson got choked up for senior big man J’Wan Roberts. Like many Kansas teams in the past, the Cougars’ program is built on grit and toughness.
Sampson may have bested Kansas twice this year, but he and Self clearly have the utmost respect for each other. If Kansas loses its final game to Arizona and West Virginia defeats UCF at home, it is possible that the two schools face off for a third time in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.