Top 103 Quotes & Sayings by Kelvin Sampson

Karen is as good a coach's wife as I've ever been around, and she's better than most. She loves basketball and has a great understanding of my responsibilities, my possession.

One of the things I enjoy most about what I do is I can give my father joy.

Racism was a big part of our community. I'm not going to revisit history, and I'm not going to call out those communities, but the communities we grew up around, we were treated like second- or third-class citizens.

Some guys have all this talent, and you wonder why they can't put it all together. Well, they don't do any of the little things.

Teams that just play on one side of the floor are going to struggle against defenses that load up on that side.

Kevin McHale was a master communicator and knows how to coach stars, and that's a unique gift because you take an old-school guy that's used to coaching his way, he'd have a hard time coaching them cats now, but Kevin knows how, and he has the patience of Job.

I've had kind of a nondescript college career.

When I first got to Oklahoma, it was really a blessing that coach Sutton was at Oklahoma State. He made me a better coach.

I used to think 63 was old.

I loved the NBA. I really did.

My dad was a high school coach for 30-plus years in North Carolina, and he was inducted into the North Carolina High School Coaches Hall of Fame. He's the best coach I've known, in every way, all the way around - relationships, motivation, going the extra mile, always putting his kids first and foremost.

Leaving Oklahoma for Illinois is not the no-brainer some think it is.

I had to take care of my family. That was my No. 1 goal.

Washington State was a tough recruiting spot.

I don't think I was a good enough coach to help an NBA team win a game when I first got to that league.

You don't want to get stuck playing 40 minutes a game with your small lineup.

I always coached mostly the have-not schools.

I'm saying when young men get to the NCAA Tournament, let's find a way to get their parents and their brothers and sisters a plane ticket and a hotel room. I don't think that's asking too much.

My heading was NBA head coach. I didn't want to be back in college for a lot of reasons.

With federal recognition, the Lumbee Tribe would become a full player in Indian country, no longer second class Indians in the eyes of the federal government. As such, we would employ our substantial skills and abilities to help correct problems faced by Indian country and make significant contributions.

Indiana basketball is bigger than one person.

Nobody believed in us. Everybody made fun of Houston basketball. I can't say I blamed 'em.

You coach at a have-not school, and you have to have a competitiveness and a resolve and resiliency about you that's different, or you'll never make it. You've got to find a way to do more with less.

Sometimes the harder you work, the more likely you are to maybe break a rule.

My father had four jobs every summer. He taught driver's education. He sold World Book Encyclopedias. He sold life insurance. He worked the tobacco market. From the time I was really, really small, I went with him. Obviously, I didn't get paid.

Tough teams win when the shots are not going.

I don't think the fans pull for or against a coach.

The most overrated thing is that you're a good defensive team because of your coaching. No. You're a good defensive team because you care and because it's important to you.

Sometimes Kellen calls me 'Coach.' Sometimes he calls me 'Pops.'

If you are an Oklahoma football fan, you have one of the best football programs in the nation.

The bad teams in our league are the ones who don't pass the ball well.

I was not real good at anything. I was just OK at everything.

I've had teams where we've had to get on a bus for 200 miles, play a game, and then drive 200 miles back.

My main influence was my father. He was a great high school coach. I thought one day, if I got lucky, I could be a head high school coach.

Coaching is competitively addictive. It just gets in your blood, especially if you win.

You remember all your teachers.

One of the first things people think of when they think of Native Americans is reservations. We didn't have any idea what that was. We were just young kids growing up in normal blue-collar America.

In my formative years, when I was a little kid, I'd get out of elementary school, and because my mother worked as a nurse, I'd have to find a way to get a ride to the high school and watch my dad's team practice.

When I was at Oklahoma, I always felt like I had to control the game because we didn't have great scorers. So, I had to figure a way to win.

My dad has always been my role model.

Sometimes players just take a little while to develop.

The coaching community is really tight-knit.

I have made the very difficult decision to leave my position as head coach of the men's basketball team at Indiana University.

The one thing about Lumbee people is that there's so many stereotypes about Native Americans, especially reservation Native Americans, and we all tend to get lumped under that umbrella. But the Lumbee are non-reservation. I grew up no different than anybody would in normal American communities.

One of the ways to use your depth is to play with speed.

In this business, a lot of coaches are running around thinking they're the reason their teams are winning.

Tim is old school. He plays that way. That's why a lot of fans identify more with a Tim Heskett than with someone who is more dynamic. The more dynamic guy might be more pleasing to the eye, but he doesn't contribute any more to his team winning than Tim does.

In basketball, there are no trap games. If you walk out on that court and lose a game, it's because the other team beat you. You played poorly. But there's no trap game.

I never thought the NCAA violations for the phone call would ever rise to the level it did.

All I wanted to do is coach in the NBA. I didn't want anything to do with college basketball.

It was never my intent to come back to college.

I always talk about my dad because he was a coach, and I became a coach.

I'm 50 years old and been a college coach for 23 years, but after 12 years, no matter where you are, there are ups and downs.

My personality is more like my mother's. She was fiery. She had more of a temper. I always thought she had enough determination that she could do anything. She could fix anything. I think all children need that feeling from their parents.

The University of Houston is a program that should have national relevance.

You're not a loser in anything until you quit. Don't quit.

The tobacco markets I worked in were segregated. If you went to the bathroom, there was 'White,' there was 'Colored,' and there was 'Other.' I grew up in that.

When you decide to go into coaching, obviously you don't forget why. That's to help develop young people, help them chase their dreams, help them reach their goals.

Guys like Andre Miller and Kevin Garnett - they're posting up hoping a second guy will run at them so they can pass. You're better just playing one-on-one in the post if you can.

There's some things assistant coaches aren't ready to do. They're not the head coach.