Following his comments about Houston’s NIL funding on Wednesday, Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson offered clarification. He said the UH athletics department was “poor” as a result of the move to the Big 12.
Sampson praised Houston Athletics, but pointed out other Big 12 schools’ financial standing. That’s the result of the conference change when the Cougars made the leap from the American Athletic Conference.
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Upon joining the Big 12, Houston had to take a decreased media share in 2023-24 and 2024-25 as part of a two-year phase-in. UH will get a full share starting in 2025-26. But Sampson said the decreased share made an impact on the school as it adjusted to its new conference.
“I shouldn’t have said we’re poor,” Sampson said Thursday. “We’re not poor. We’re anything but poor. We’ve got a great athletic department. The NIL thing, though, that’s not a bottomless pit. You’ve got to continue to work at that. And the schools that have been in the Big 12 the longest, they have an advantage.
“But that’s nothing to do with anything we’ve done wrong. It has everything to do with how many years they’ve been at a full media share. We’ve been in the American Athletic Conference. That’s the only reason they’re ahead of us.”
Kelvin Sampson” ‘I have to’ work on NIL in-season
In the meantime, though, Kelvin Sampson said NIL still requires a year-round effort. In fact, he had discussions with assistant coach Kellen Sampson, his son, just this week.
Sampson also has had similar conversations with Houston football coach Willie Fritz. But doing work on NIL during the season comes with the territory in the new era of college basketball, he said. It’s part of being competitive in the race for a national championship.
“I run the basketball program,” Sampson said. “I’m not going to sit there and wait for them to come to me, and neither is Willie. He and I have had some awesome, awesome conversations, just exchanging idea. We’ve been around a little bit.
“But this NIL thing, every year – I look at what other programs are doing. Kellen and I spend a lot of time. We’re doing NIL this week. I have to. We want to continue to win, but you’ve got to keep working at it.
