Kelvin Sampson’s brutal ejection shows why Houston players love him so much – In defense of Jamal Shead, UH coach makes statement

IIf University of Houston football coach Willie Fritz had timed how quickly Kelvin Sampson ran onto the field to lash out at the referees, the Cougars might have a 68-year-old new recruit on this National Signing Day morning. Because Sampson was moving. And bringing all the heat, clapping and pumping his fist in the air, yelling, letting a ref hear it and then pivoting on a dime like a Kevin McHale in his prime (with the best post moves in the game) to get in another ref’s face before the guy even knows what’s coming.

“I didn’t even see it coming,” UH point guard Jamal Shead laughed. “I didn’t know it was there until I heard the first whistle for the first technical.”

That’s what happens when Kelvin Sampson feels like one of his players is in danger. Some Mama Bears are less instinctive, less likely to roar. Sampson promptly picks up a second technical foul, earning himself the first ejection in 10 seasons and 329 games as UH’s head basketball coach. The ejection comes because Kelvin Sampson is tired of seeing extracurricular activities by a physical Oklahoma State team go unchallenged. Finally, watching Houston’s 6-foot-1 point guard Jamal Shead get shoved directly in the back by Cowboys center Brandon Garrison, 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, without a whistle, sends Sampson over the edge.

Sampson is at the far end of the court, making the famous coaching box look like it was penciled in. No. 5 Houston would eventually beat Oklahoma State 79-63 (the final score was only as close because of a 13-2 Cowboys run in the final four minutes). But that’s not what this is about. Sampson isn’t fighting for the game when he’s knocked out with 15:07 left. He’s fighting for his players.

“I love it when he gets excited like that,” Shead said, responding to a Paper City question leaning against a back hallway at the Fertitta Center. “He was doing it for me. He was protecting me and he was emotional about it. And he told us to show emotion. And that was the only night he showed emotion.”

“He got kicked out. But I loved it.”

The expulsion is a good example of why Kelvin Sampson’s players absolutely adore this old-school, demanding, often yelling coach, whom some of the bolder among them call Samps. If you only know the caricature of this coach, you miss the caring, do-anything-for-his-boys side of Sampson. Kelvin Sampson’s players learn that side. But everyone in America sees it that Tuesday night in February. If they know what they’re looking at.

Sampson is losing his mind because he supports his players — and they know it.

“When your coach gets sent off while protecting one of your players, it does something to you,” Shead says.

It could make a stronger team even stronger. This Houston team, now 20-3 (7-3 Big 12), is a game ahead of traditional Big 12 power Kansas (6-4 Big 12) and a half-game ahead of Iowa State and Baylor (both 6-3) in the standings with eight conference games remaining for the Coogs. Of course, after this one, no one wants to talk about that. Or Houston reaching at least 20 wins for the ninth straight season under Sampson. Or even Shead’s 23-point, four-assist, three-steal masterpiece in a game that saw the point guard finish with a plus 29 plus/minus rating in 29 minutes and reach the edge as easily as a river flows downstream.

Everyone wants to talk about Sampson’s expulsion. Well… except Kelvin Sampson.

“I have no idea,” Sampson said when asked about his expulsion. “If I answer your question, they’ll fine me $25,000. How much of that $25,000 are you willing to pay? So don’t ask me stupid questions. Because if I tell the truth, I’ll have to pay a $25,000 fine. So I can’t do it.”

It turns out that Kelvin Dale Sampson has never been disciplined for speaking out about officiating, despite coaching 1,099 games as a college head coach. “No,” Sampson says when I ask him if he’s ever been disciplined for questioning officiating. “Because I’m smarter than the person asking the question.”

Yet on this one, you almost wish Sampson’s friend Gregg Popovich was sitting behind him, urging the Houston coach to accept the fine. Popovich was once ejected for bluntly telling a referee, “You’re a terrible referee,” and the San Antonio Spurs coach never seemed particularly concerned about the specter of the NBA. That night in college basketball, UH athletic director Chris Pezman was in Sampson’s postgame press conference (an unusual occurrence for Houston regular-season basketball). But Pezman was just standing off to the side, watching the spectacle.

“I love it when he gets excited like that. He did it for me. He protected me and he was moved by it… It got him kicked out. But I loved it.” — UH point guard Jamal Shead on Kelvin Sampson’s ejection

Kelvin Sampson never needs backup. Tonight, it helps to have assistant coach Quannas White to hold him back and keep him away from the various referees in the heat of the moment. Even if Sampson seems rather annoyed at the moment. Moments later, UH director of athletic performance Alan Bishop, a towering figure who could be Jack Reacher’s understudy, accompanies Kelvin Sampson on his way to the locker room. Kelvin’s wife, Karen Sampson, will join them in the hallway, joining her husband in his purgatory from the remainder of the referee-imposed game.

It’s not exactly how Kelvin Sampson expected to spend his Tuesday night, but a coach reminding his team how much he cares isn’t exactly a bad thing.

“Nobody follows anybody who isn’t in the trenches with them,” Sampson says, speaking of leadership in general, not the expulsion scenario. “Then you become a boss. There’s a big difference between a leader and a boss. A leader empowers people to be the best version of themselves. A boss just points at you and tells you what to do. I never had a boss. And if I did, I didn’t listen.”

“I listen to the leaders, but not the bosses.”

Kelvin Sampson is a leader, not a boss. Just like Jamal Shead.

Sampson isn’t fighting for the game when he’s taken off with 15 minutes and 7 seconds left. He’s fighting for his players.

Kelvin Sampson, his ouster and his changes of direction

Sampson is one of the smartest voices in sports, a Hall of Fame coach who can beat you coaching his team and probably beat you coaching yours. Only, Sampson only wants to coach his Houston team this season. It seems like Sampson still thinks this is a special group, no matter how many others freaked out about the loss to legendary Kansas that knocked these Cougars out of first place for… two days.

This Oklahoma State win shows what this Top 5 Houston team can do when it pushes the pace (it’s 15-4 UH in fast break points in this game), using a defense as disruptive as a firecracker in a library (Shead and The Swipers rack up 11 steals and force 17 Oklahoma State turnovers) to get out in the open field where good shots are easy to find. With Houston running, invaluable guard Emanuel Sharp (16 points on 6-of-11 shooting) will find his shot, and backup Mylik Wilson will work his way to 12 points in 21 minutes, sinking an over-the-shoulder shot without even looking at the basket.

But it all starts with Jamal Shead, who furiously shakes off any Kansas blues. Even John Wick isn’t this intent on kicking ass from the start.

“They’re different in that they never stop,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton said of what makes this Houston defense even more formidable than a typical Kelvin Sampson defense. “Literally, five guys are constantly moving (on defense). And we talk about that a lot on offense. But very few people, young players, college players, can really accept that they’re constantly moving and engaged every possession defensively.”

“Jamal Shead’s play in transition to stop us from scoring a layup when we were still in the game early in the game, that’s a great example of that.”

Boynton says Shead “played like an All-American. A first-team All-American, to be clear. And the player of the year who wasn’t going to take a beating tonight, either way.” Sampson adds something even deeper, putting Shead in a UH playmaking class of his own for the first time.

“Jamal is the best leader we’ve ever had,” Sampson said.

This detail has almost been forgotten amidst all the talk of the sending off. But what Kelvin Sampson’s players don’t miss is the way he defends them. Just because you’re wearing referee stripes doesn’t mean Kelvin Sampson is going to let anything slide. Especially not if he thinks his players are being treated unfairly.

“When your coach gets sent off while protecting one of your players, it affects you.” — Jamal Shead, UH point guard

About 10 minutes after Sampson’s press conference ended, UH director of basketball operations and strategy Bobby Champagne (a former longtime coach) stopped by the press room. “Does anybody want to ask me a question about officiating?” Champagne offered aloud. “I’ll take the ticket.”

No need. Kelvin Sampson took care of his players when it mattered most. In the heat of the moment. Sampson will make the long walk to the locker room in front of the Fertitta Center crowd chanting, “Kel-vin Sampson! Kel-vin Sampson!” But his players also want to yell for him. Their coach. Their leader.

“There was a little physical altercation,” Shead said. “And I feel like it went on for the whole game. And he got a little fed up. And he took it his way. And he got what he got.”

It would be a most memorable expulsion. And the unwavering support of his players. Coach Samps has his back on these UH players. And more importantly, they know it.