Should Sampson be forced to make staff moves after this season?

I just don’t see improvement on the court as the season progresses and as far as recruiting goes, it’s another year of depending on jucos to fill the scholarships. We need a Josh Pastner type with connections to regain a pipeline into the high school ranks.

Can we really just wait for the 2019 class when we have a refurbished arena and see how the recruiting goes then to make changes?

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The problem with “forcing” him to change his staff is if he refuses, then do you fire him? No, I think he should sink or swim with his guys. Sampson is an old coach and probably will resist change.

My opinion:

Sampson is safe for this season. Next season is the make or break year.

  1. Sign a top 5 Houston area player for the 2018 class.
    — The 2018 players can be promised top flight facilities from the moment they step on campus. If Sampson is unable to sign top tier Houston area players then he is not the right coach.
    — We lost recruiting battles to TCU and Vandy for Houston area players in 2017. That has to change.

  2. Our team needs to show improvement.
    — The new bigs must give UH more production then our current seniors. If we are plagued with the same issues as this year then the excuses have to stop and Sampson has to be held accountable.

I want Sampson to succeed. But if he doesn’t, hiring a new coach in the same season as opening a renovated arena could excite a fan base turned off by mediocrity. No need to wait until 2019 if we have another average season boosted by seven easy wins, and fail to sign one of the top players.

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Yall are crazy.

Sampson’s seat is very cold. Hunter loves him. He got us back to Penders level in year 2. We are once again a NIT level team. Could have been better but the star frontcourt recruit got hurt.

He especially wont be judged based on next year without a home court.

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No, CKS shouldn’t be forced to do anything.

He had to start with basically nothing and has us on the cusp of the NCAA tourney last year. He lost a number of players last year that has caused our depth to hurt this year. Still, we’re at the exact same spot we were last year with a chance to go on a run again.

We have Top 70 recruiting classes 2 of the last 3 years (counting this next year’s class). Only reason we didn’t have one last year was Allen didn’t commit. He commits, we’re a top 25 team. For us to even be in the conversation about Allen and in his last 2 is saying something.

We won’t find a better coach than CKS. Sorry, this idea that we need to look elsewhere is just dumb. Pastner, you mean the guy that took Memphis from a top 16 team to not even in the NIT? CKS coached circles around him last year.

And we had a guy that recruited top tier high school talent to Houston at one point; his name was James Dickey. That didn’t turn out so well. And creating a connection to high school talent doesn’t matter; you have to create a pipeline to the AAU circuit which means playing a dirty game.

Sampson has said from the beginning that he’s creating a program, not just a team. Last year’s team probably overachieved because of Devonte Pollard, a former 5* recruit who finally reached his potential. Still, we are still relying on guys that had to be brought in to fill in the roster early on. But realize, Pollard, Gray, Dotson, Robinson, Van Beck, Brooks were all brought in because CKS is here. If we land Allen, or Chris Harris makes the grades, we’re probably not having this conversation.

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Why do you care where the players come from ???

Our best players ever came from Louisiana and Africa !!

I could care less where they come from. I just want some good big men !

But then, who doesn’t.

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I doubt seriously anyone is going to tell Sampson who to keep on his staff. He has been around the block and knows what he is doing. Leave him alone and let him do his job. Recruiting should get easier when the Hof is finished being renovated. If we can make the NIT this year that will help. That said, I think he has a pretty nice group of recruits heading to UH for next season…

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Force Sampson? :laughing:

Well, if he doesn’t win soon, he will be let go. How soon, next year. Why ??! Awesome basketball facilities to go with a brand new arena. This ain’t CFB where Judas left because UH wouldn’t get a fair shot at a NC. In college basketball, P5 crap doesn’t matter. This UH job will look very attractive for any up and coming coach next season. It would be the perfect time to bring a new head coach if CKS can’t get UH into the tournament. Tillman nor Renu won’t stand for mediocre basketball.

The Sampson family are awesome people. But at the end of the day, winning is why we play college sports.

3 of the 5 freshman recruits Sampson has signed are from Houston. Coincidence?

  1. Chris Harris - offer from Texas A&M, grade issues (Houston)
  2. Galen Robinson - offers from TCU, Wichita State, Creighton and many other small schools. Fast, strong and a great on ball defender. Needs to be more agressive on offense, shooting, and confidence going to the left. Still an underclassmen, not a finished product. (Houston)
  3. Armoni Brooks - offers from Creighton, KSU, and Tulsa. Looks promising so far with a nice 3 point shot and ability to get in the paint. Should develop into a quality starter. (Austin)
  4. Fabian White - offers from Creighton, ISU, BSU, and SMU. Haven’t seen a highlight video yet. (Houston)
  5. Mike Adewunmi - only offer, very athletic and strong, needs development and could be a lock down defender in 2 years. (DFW)

I’m not looking for the next Hakeem Olajuwon or Elgin Hayes. I don’t even expect UH to beat UT for highly touted players in Austin.

Fabian White is a sign that the tide may be turning. With the top notch facilities, it is time to get the Danuel House type players so we can rise above the mediocrity and compete with good teams.

In fact, thanks to Big East tourney dollars, UH was bringing in more money in basketball the last couple of years than half of the P5 schools.

Just as long as no one says we should replace CKS with Alvin Brooks.

Not sure Sampson relates to today’s players. I am a long time season ticket holder and his brand of basketball is not exciting. Why would recruits consider my school?

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You fellas are nuts. I was a student during McCallum and have sat through all the coaches since then.

I assume you are comparing our success on the football field to the lack of success on the basketball court. Apples and oranges fellas. If it was the same, Kentucky and Indiana would have better football teams and Alabama and Clemson would be expected in the Final Four this year.

Is Sampson the answer? I don’t know. I hope so. He’s shown progress in the last 2.5 years. We’re disappointed in the last 5 games, but I’m not ready to write this season off. And even if this season continues on it’s current path, we need to take into account the injuries and illness this team has experienced.

I’m not ready to fire any coach who has done what this coach has done in 2.5 years considering where the program was 2.5 years ago.

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That’s college basketball today. Most games aren’t exciting until you get late in the season. Turn on college basketball most nights and you’ll see similar unexciting games.

Recruits will come if the facilities are there and they have a chance to play and win. CKS has the cred on the winning part; the facilities are next.

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We do have the practice facilities, but not the arena yet. People who think bigger name recruits will come to play at UH because of the new arena, are mistaken. Its all about relationships with the coach, and staff. Winning tradition, also matters.

If we have patience, Coach Sampson will get the job done. Give him 3 more years. If we’re not NCAA material by then,
I’ll jump off the bandwagon.

3 more years ??! I wish it was that simple. I could see UH keeping CKS next year because of the arena situation. But if he struggles next season, he could be gone. I don’t see that much difference between recruiting or winning when you compare coach Penders with CKS.

But what constitutes struggling? Is he struggling this season by keeping a Top 100 ranked team (closer to Top 50) after losing his top inside player? There’s a very good chance we win 20 games this season. If he wins 20 again next season (doing all of it without getting to play on campus), he’ll be the first coach since Guy V did it when we went to three straight Final Fours.

I’m just trying to figure out why we’re trying to get rid of our coach in his third year. You mention Penders, but we gave him 6 years and we should have kept him longer considering what happened afterwards. I’m tired of trying to believe that we’re going to find some magical coach that will ensure that the high schoolers will stay in Houston while also winning ball games. We’ve tried for 30 years to do that and our most successful coaches since Guy V were Pat Foster, Tom Penders, and now Kelvin Sampson; all of them have had to go the JUCO route to pull in good players. All of them were winners. Let’s give Sampson some time to really get things setup with the practice facility and the arena (and hopefully fans) before we try for our next Alvin Brooks or Ray McCallum or Clyde Drexler or James Dickey. I’d much rather watch 20+ win teams on cusp of the tournament than 14 win teams that are going nowhere and are terrible to watch.

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Wait & see.

Patrick, I do love the 2017 class. They bring toughness & strength that the current team is lacking. I think this is why they missed Davis a lot. Why Cincinnati & UConn have been bad match ups, and why GT blew UH out last season in the NIT.

I do hope UH could bring Corey Davis and Chris Harris in. I hope Rob Gray returns but with no true home court advantage next season, he may be gone. Fingers crossed!

Cedrick Alley is also another prospect to keep a close eye on. Reminds me of Jae Crowder from Marquette.

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