Houston Cougars men's basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson Pembroke, N.C. Kelvin Sampson, a former Houston Rockets coach and seasoned collegiate veteran, was named head coach of the University of Houston Men's Basketball team on April 3, 2014. A member of the Houston coaching staff for 12 years, including three seasons as head coach of the Rockets before being fired in June 2007, Sampson is expected to bring his aggressive brand of basketball to Houston. Sampson has a career record of 149-79 while at Houston and 276-149 in the NBA. He led the Rockets to the playoffs each year he was there and was just two wins short of making it to the NBA Finals in 2006. After going 72-70 in his first season with Houston in 2014-15, Sampson is expected to bring a National Championship contender to UH. He coached at Oklahoma State from 1996 to 2002 and took that program to the NCAA Tournament every year during that time period. In addition, he led the Cowboys to the NIT twice and an 18-16 record in 2001-02. After leaving OSU, he went 84-39 over the next four years at Indiana before being fired after a 10-22 record in 2009-10. After one season as an assistant at Oklahoma City, he returned to college basketball as head coach of the Rockets in May 2010.