Parallels between Sampson/Houston Hurley/UConn | The Boneyard

Parallels between Sampson/Houston Hurley/UConn

SwingDog

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Since Coach Hurley said Houston is the example of the program he is looking to build, I thought it would be interesting to look at what Kelvin Sampson has achieved at Houston. When he took over he inherited a program that enjoyed some past success but was wildly inconsistent and had many bad years, with losing records over 10 of the previous 20 seasons. In Sampson's first season, 2014-2015, the Cougars posted a 13-19 record. At that time there was talk among fans that he might not be the man for the job and if there wasn't noticeable improvement the following season then maybe he should be replaced. (Sound familiar?) Sampson has gone on to post records of 22-10 in 2015-2016, 21-11 in 2016-2017, 27-8 in 2017-2018 and thus far in 2018-2019 Houston is 31-2.

The strength of recruiting for Sampson didn't initially come from a rich Houston tradition of winning and certainly not being part of a premier conference, because neither were true at that point. Sure, Houston had achieved great success decades ago, mostly under Guy Lewis and then to some degree under Pat Foster and Tom Penders, but that was old news. They had not (and still haven't) reached the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament since 1984. I am sure Sampson's resume' including success as head coach at Oklahoma and Indiana along with six seasons as an NBA assistant coach were attractive to potential recruits and I'm sure he has used that, but it's more than that. Whatever it's been, Sampson has done at Houston what Coach Hurley wants to do at UConn. Hurley has his own resume' which is impressive in itself (success as a former player, in rebuilding programs, and as part of a family with great basketball tradition), plus something Houston doesn't have- a program with a history of winning not one, but four national championships. He also has the right attitude, mindset, and work ethic to achieve success and the ability to get his players to buy in. I think he is off to a good start.
 
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SwingDog

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Why did Sampson leave Indiana again? And tell me how things off the court went at Oklahoma...

Be like Sampson? no thanks.
Honestly, I don't know, but none of that matters. I'm looking at what he has done to bring Houston to the level they're at for the reason that Coach Hurley has stated that's where UConn wants to be.
 
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Houston, along with SMU, and Cincinnati, has been able to dominate this conference in a way that we have not even come close to in the 6 years since the AAC existed. When the AAC was formed, many UConn fans thought we were basically going to be the east coast version of Gonzaga. Who knows how long Kelvin Sampson will be at Houston. I guarantee he gets some offers from P5 schools after this season. Hopefully we can turn the corner and recruit a lot better than we have so we can establish ourselves as a winning program again. I think once we do, this whole thing is going to take off like a rocket. I think Hurley is the coach that can make it happen.
 

ColchVEGAS

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I do not think any P5s will have Sampson on their short list with his history.
 
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Didn’t leave but was tossed out. He done cheated.
Sampson's "crimes" were actually fairly minor, making calls to recruits when prohibited. He wasn't fired at OU, he left to take the IU job which at the time was equivalent to Kansas, or Carolina. What got him at Indiana was that he committed the same violation he got into trouble at Oklahoma for, making prohibited calls. The NCAA was pissed not so much at the crime, but at the fact that he basically gave them the finger, by doing the same thing after being told not to. This is why he got smacked down.
 
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Sampson's "crimes" were actually fairly minor, making calls to recruits when prohibited. He wasn't fired at OU, he left to take the IU job which at the time was equivalent to Kansas, or Carolina. What got him at Indiana was that he committed the same violation he got into trouble at Oklahoma for, making prohibited calls. The NCAA was pissed not so much at the crime, but at the fact that he basically gave them the finger, by doing the same thing after being told not to. This is why he got smacked down.

And then of course they changed the rules several years later to make what he did totally legal.
 
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I do not think any P5s will have Sampson on their short list with his history.
Sampson's age probably works against him leaving as well. Plus, he's not going to get hired by any powerhouse program. He's got Houston back among the elite for the first time since the 3 Final Fours, and two title games of the 80s. He's unlikely to land a job that has as much potential as Houston. BC? Wake? I can't see leaving Houston for jobs like that.
 
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Sampson isn't going anywhere. He will retire at Houston. At his age and considering what he has build Houston up to, there are not many jobs that would be worth leaving for.

PS: The AAC is getting better. Houston, Cinci, and Memphis will be very strong. Wichita State, SMU, Temple, UCF, USF will be competitive. Nobody is waiting around for UCONN to get better. I don't want to hear about how we are going to be worse next year than this year. We need to be around 20 wins next year.

PS: We can't lose by 40 either, I don't care how good our opponent is. That is flat out inexcusable.
 
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Good insight. How many top 100 players has Sampson recruited to Houston?
You have to have the physical specimens to work with and we don’t, they do. We need Hurley to be able to to do this, and quick.
 

Chin Diesel

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I'll add this.

UConn used to have some big players on every team.

KFree, Lyman DePriest, Okafor, Adrien, Stanley Robinson all were strong dudes.

Even guards like Taliek and Ben Gordon we're physically strong.

UConn has always been known for athletes but the current roster is so skinny across the board.

Houston looked like men playing against boys.
 

TerryBoyz

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Reading Sampson and Gregg Marshall are candidates at Texas A&M. Think losing Marshall would hurt the conference more.
 

SwingDog

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To make it clear, I am not suggesting Kelvin Sampson is a role model for Dan Hurley to pattern himself after, but there are some aspects he can look at. That said, Houston chose to give Sampson a chance, and hopefully he has learned from past mistakes and is doing things above board at Houston now. The point of the thread was brought about by Coach Hurley's post game presser after being annihilated by Houston a couple of days ago. There are similarities to the state of the program at Houston when Sampson took over and where UConn was when Hurley took over. The idea is that achieving measurable success doesn't need to be years into the future if you have the right coach and begin to assemble the type of team he wants. We have the first part and have begun to do the latter. It is a reasonable expectation that we will see marked improvement next season.
 
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Reading Sampson and Gregg Marshall are candidates at Texas A&M. Think losing Marshall would hurt the conference more.
I don't think either is leaving. They both have big money boosters at their school. Houston will give Sampson a big raise after this season.
 

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