4. Kelvin Sampson (Houston)
When next season begins, Sampson will be 70 years old and unquestionably one of the oldest active head coaches in the nation. However, after the way this past season ended for the Cougars, it’s no surprise to see Sampson as fired up as ever for next year. Houston was right there, on the doorstep to their first national title before folding late in their seventh Final Four and second under Sampson’s leadership.
Houston is far from the first step on a legendary coaching career for Sampson. Already a head coach more than forty years ago at Montana Tech, he’s had success at Washington State and Oklahoma, taking the Sooners to the Final Four back in 2002. Sampson fizzled out with recruiting issues at Indiana and you can bet the Hoosiers wish that hadn’t happened. He’s now built Houston into one of the nation’s best programs, with six straight trips to at least the Sweet Sixteen including that pair of Final Four’s and league titles in the Pac-12 and Big 12.
What puts Sampson this high on the list compared to other older coaches is that Houston might be the favorite next season. There’s still a lot of moving pieces and a lot of things could change, but this will be a very talented and very driven team. The Cougars could taste a national championship and fumbled it away; coming back the following season bent on revenge and winning it all would be one heck of a story. Realistically, is this Sampson’s last chance before he hands over the program to his son Kellen?