You are not going to out bid Tillman Fertitta. Not going to happen.
I’m sure that Yurachek knows, I mean, he was part of the team that negotiated with Fertitta to renovate Hoffhein’s Pavilion on the UH campus to the point that UH has NBA (he owns the NBA Houston Rockets) type amenities and he has enough money to contribute that the very floor at the new arena bears his name. That arena was built BY Tillman Fertitta FOR Kelvin Sampson.
HY knows who he’s bidding against very well.
Few people really know if Sampson is really a candidate here. It has been my experience that people like to think ADs want to hire their old employees, but in reality you see it happen very rarely. Dan Mullen reuniting with Scott Stricklin at Florida was a rarity, and Mullen’s history with Florida might have played more of a role than his history with the AD.
I do agree with you that it seems unlikely Sampson would leave Houston, not only because of Fertitta, but because of the built-in recruiting advantage in Houston and because of his age. Would he want to start over at 64 at a school in worse shape than Houston?
All good points. In addition, he’s been in town for a bit and his family seems comfortable in Houston, and yes, that’s important. Sampson was on the Rockets bench as an assistant before getting back into college.
SEC could be a strong incentive
We’re not in worse shape than Houston (at least not prior to firing coach A) smh saying that is like saying we’re in worst shape than Loyola Chicago…
Sampson has made it clear he wants his son to be groomed to be his replacement eventually. Not sure UA wants to get that type of two-for-one deal.
Houston is 60-11 over the past two seasons and 30-6 in a quality conference; not the SEC, but a top 7-8 league for sure. The Cougars are in the Sweet 16 this week and Arkansas is looking for a new head coach because Mike Anderson didn’t win enough. Houston beat a veteran Arkansas team by 26 points when they played last year. How is Houston not in better shape than Arkansas?
Because sweet six is possibly their ceiling we have a national title and multiple sweet sixteens Houston is trying to get what we have and with all the rich tradition we have and yet if we are not seen as a more desirable program than Houston we have really bottomed out of that be the case… A program like Houston springs up every two or three years what they are doing is not worthy of more than a pat on the back their not a blue blood and never have been close we on the other hand have been close and on the top
Let’s agree to disagree. I don’t think Arkansas’ national championship 25 years ago has any bearing on its current state, nor do I think you’ll find many who will minimize what Houston is doing this year. In fact, I see many on here clamoring to hire the coach that put Houston in the position it is in.
Why does Sampson care about the SEC if the school trying to hire him isn’t Kentucky? The league is very good now but the league he’s in now is pretty good, too. His road to the NCAA is not any tougher at Houston than in it would be at Arkansas.
In football, yes, the SEC would be a big attraction. For basketball it’s just another re-build in a slightly tougher league for a guy who may not see himself coaching in five or six years.