HOUSTON — It’s official! Coach Kelvin Sampson will be a Coog through the 2025 season!
The University of Houston announced an extension for the men’s basketball coach Thursday morning. The new deal runs until 2025.
Sampson thanked Cougar Nation on Twitter, saying "the Journey Continues!"
”I am excited to be at the University of Houston. We built this program to a point where we can compete for championships now, and I am glad our administration is on board," Sampson said Thursday "They have given us a chance to compete for championships. That’s all a coach wants.”
ESPN is reporting Sampson will get $18 million over the next six seasons.
”We are delighted to have Kelvin Sampson continue to lead the Houston basketball program and to have the Sampson family in Houston for the future,” UH Athletic Director Chris Pezman said.
"Coach Sampson has brought a culture of winning and& leadership to our basketball program that is contagious to every part of our university and I could not think of a better way to cap off our most successful season in 34 years,” UH President Renu Khator said.
“The Houston Cougars are committed to winning at the highest level and under Kelvin’s coaching and leadership I have no doubt we will be competing for championships for years to come,” UH Board of Regents Chairman Tilman Fertitta said.
Sources told KHOU in late March that Arkansas was trying to lure Sampson away from UH, after they fired head coach Mike Anderson.
Arkansas’ athletic director is Hunter Yurachek who came from UH and worked with Sampson. Sampson has been the head coach of the Cougars since 2014.
Sampson had become a hot name in coaching searches after leading the Coogs to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the days of Phi Slama Jama in 1984.
The No. 3 seeded Cougars season ended with a loss to Kentucky, 62-58, on Friday in the Midwest Regional.