Michigan State men’s basketball did not play in the Final Four on Saturday, but the program was still represented by one of its former coaches.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, now on the cusp of his first ever national title, began his decorated coaching career at Michigan State, serving as a graduate assistant under the great Jud Heathcote.
Sampson’s Cougars defeated Duke in a thrilling Final Four showdown on Saturday, propelling themselves to Monday’s national championship game.
Afterward, Sampson reflected on where he came from and who has inspired him along the way. Heathcote was mentioned.
“Two people that helped me the most was my father and Jud Heathcote.,” Sampson said. “Those guys were just old school, discipline, do things the right way, coach ’em up, and play ball. That’s kind of what I was raised with.”
Sampson, who will be 70 in October, also mentioned Heathcote’s successor Tom Izzo, who reached seven decades of life himself back in January. The Houston coach feels a sense of responsibility to finish the job for the old-timers.
“Over the years, things kind of come full circle in some ways. Last night I got so many texts. I haven’t returned any. There’s too many to even look at. I didn’t even get through all of them.
“I saw Tubby and Rick Barnes, Tom Izzo, Pop, a bunch of the older coaches. They all kind of had similar messages to me. Win one for the old guys, something like that [smiling]. We were all young at the same time coming up.”
Sampson was at Michigan State even before Izzo got there. He held his for the 1979-80 season, the year after Earvin “Magic” Johnson and the Spartans won it all.
He then went on to serve as an assistant at Montana Tech before becoming the program’s head coach. Sampson then became an assistant at Washington State before serving as its head coach for seven seasons. He was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 1990-91.
Sampson then served 12 seasons as the head coach at Oklahoma, where he won the AP Coach of the Year in his very first season at the helm. He led the Sooners to three-straight Big 12 Tournament titles, a Final Four appearance in 2002 and a Big 12 regular season title in 2005.
Sampson would coach two seasons at Indiana and has been with Houston ever since.
