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.
— Kelvin Sampson
I never thought the NCAA violations for the phone call would ever rise to the level it did.
There's some things assistant coaches aren't ready to do. They're not the head coach.
I loved the NBA. I really did.
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.
You're not a loser in anything until you quit. Don't quit.
I always talk about my dad because he was a coach, and I became a coach.
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.
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.
I've had kind of a nondescript college career.
Sometimes the harder you work, the more likely you are to maybe break a rule.
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.
I was not real good at anything. I was just OK at everything.
Teams that just play on one side of the floor are going to struggle against defenses that load up on that side.
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.
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.
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.
The University of Houston is a program that should have national relevance.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I had to take care of my family. That was my No. 1 goal.
My dad has always been my role model.
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.
I don't think the fans pull for or against 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.
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.
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.
One of the things I enjoy most about what I do is I can give my father joy.
The bad teams in our league are the ones who don't pass the ball well.
Sometimes Kellen calls me 'Coach.' Sometimes he calls me 'Pops.'
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 I first got to Oklahoma, it was really a blessing that coach Sutton was at Oklahoma State. He made me a better coach.
It was never my intent to come back to college.
One of the ways to use your depth is to play with speed.
I used to think 63 was old.
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 always coached mostly the have-not schools.
Dreams do come true.
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.
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.
Indiana basketball is bigger than one person.
Tough teams win when the shots are not going.
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.
Coaching is competitively addictive. It just gets in your blood, especially if you win.
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.
You don't want to get stuck playing 40 minutes a game with your small lineup.
All I wanted to do is coach in the NBA. I didn't want anything to do with college basketball.
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.
