Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Houston Shares Kelvin Sampson Honor on Wednesday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Robert Marvi | Last updated May 1, 2025 2:27 AM ET

Not a ton of people picked the Houston Cougars to win the 2025 men's national championship, but they made a very deep run that was inspiring.

They defeated second-seeded Tennessee in the Elite Eight round and then toppled Duke, a team many picked to win it all, in the Final Four. Versus the Florida Gators in the final game, Houston held a lead for much of the night, only to run out of gas late and lose by two points.

Kelvin Sampson, Cougars head coach, was named the Coach of the Year for the 2024-25 season at a school banquet for guiding his men to the brink of the NCAA title.

Kelvin Sampson is the Coach of the Year!#CougarChoice25 pic.twitter.com/OgDWugSroP
— Houston Athletics (@UHCougars) May 1, 2025

All season, Sampson's squad made a name for itself by winning with a withering defense and by turning games into street fights. The national championship game was a tug of war, as Florida is a fastbreak team, and while Houston won the style battle in that game, it wasn't able to hold on.

Sampson, 69, just wrapped up his 11th season as the Cougars' head coach. He got them to the Final Four for the second time in the last five seasons, and he had previously coached Oklahoma to the Final Four in 2002.

He had once been an assistant coach in the NBA, first for the Milwaukee Bucks and then for the Houston Rockets. In the 1970s, he was a guard for Pembroke State (now known as UNC Pembroke), where he earned a degree in political science, as well as another one in health and physical education.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: