You're not a loser in anything until you quit. Don't quit.
Kelvin Sampson
I'm really proud of what we are building at the University of Houston, and hope I spend the rest of my career here.
I came to Indiana for one reason: I think you can win championships at Indiana.
When I left college ball, I think I was prepared to coach a team, but I don't think I was prepared to help the team win.
Sometimes the harder you work, the more likely you are to maybe break a rule.
Nobody believed in us. Everybody made fun of Houston basketball. I can't say I blamed 'em.
Scott Skiles was a master tactician - they're all masters, but he is elite. He knew how to manipulate his team from an X's-and-O's standpoint.
I don't think the fans pull for or against a coach.
Iowa State's a great team; I know how tough they are in Ames.
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.
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.
If you are an Oklahoma football fan, you have one of the best football programs in the nation.
Pembroke is my foundation. Everything that I've become is because of those people.
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.
There's some things assistant coaches aren't ready to do. They're not the head coach.
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.
Being Native American, we were different than everybody else, but I never felt like I was different.
It was never my intent to come back to college.
One of the ways to use your depth is to play with speed.
I always coached mostly the have-not schools.
The University of Houston is a program that should have national relevance.
I used to think 63 was old.
There are incredible decisions made in a 48-minute game with a 24-second shot clock and the last two minutes of a game.
Little old University of Houston jumping up, swinging with the big boys, and that's something to take pride in. I'm happy for our fans, I'm happy for our alumni, but more importantly, I'm happy for our players.
I loved the NBA. I really did.
I've been taking off my tie for a lot of years. When I take it off, I usually throw it down.
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.
The reason you get into coaching in the first place is to help and develop, try to make people better.
My dad has always been my role model.
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.
It's a big deal to get to the NCAA Tournament.
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 bad teams in our league are the ones who don't pass the ball well.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Leaving Oklahoma for Illinois is not the no-brainer some think it is.
When I first got to Oklahoma, it was really a blessing that coach Sutton was at Oklahoma State. He made me a better coach.
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.
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.
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.
All I wanted to do is coach in the NBA. I didn't want anything to do with college basketball.
Sometimes Kellen calls me 'Coach.' Sometimes he calls me 'Pops.'
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.
You don't want to get stuck playing 40 minutes a game with your small lineup.
Teams that just play on one side of the floor are going to struggle against defenses that load up on that side.
One of the things I enjoy most about what I do is I can give my father joy.
I was not real good at anything. I was just OK at everything.
Coaching is competitively addictive. It just gets in your blood, especially if you win.
