There is probably no need for an introduction for today’s guest. You know who Kelvin Sampson is.

Currently, the 70-year-old Sampson is the head coach of the University of Houston’s highly-successful men’s basketball program.

He’s won multiple national Coach of the Year awards, and he took the Cougars to the Final Four in 2021 and 2025. He also took Oklahoma to the Final Four in 2002.

He coached at Indiana, and he was an assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets in the NBA.

Before all of that, though, Kelvin Sampson, as Jud Heathcote told him, took Montana Tech’s men’s basketball program from oblivion to obscurity.

Of course, the immediate years following that phone call from the legendary Heathcote were the “Camelot Years” at Montana Tech. Extra seating had to be brought into the HPER Complex to accommodate all the people who wanted to watch Sampson’s high-flying Orediggers win the Frontier Conference title in 1983, 1984 and 1985.

Next Saturday, Aug. 29, Coach Sampson will return to the Mining City to host a camp on Montana Tech’s Kelvin Sampson Court. Click here for more information and to register for that camp.

This morning, I caught up with Coach Sampson over Zoom for a really fun conversation. Listen in as he talks about starting his coaching career and how he and his wife, Karen, had to look on an atlas to find Montana.

Listen in as he talks about so many of the players, assistant coaches and families who helped him in his days in Butte. Listen in to hear that the Mining City still holds a special place in Coach Sampson’s heart.

Today’s episode is presented by Casagranda’s Steakhouse. Eat where the locals eat. (Photo above is from the University of Houston men’s basketball website.)

This episode is also available on YouTube: