Texas Tech Basketball: 10 candidates to replace Mark Adams as head coach

Kellen Sampson

Make sure you don’t misread the header on this one: we’re talking about Kellen Sampson, not his father Kelvin. While his father has been a really successful head coach for many decades, the younger Sampson is a viable candidate for this and a number of other jobs this season. He’s another one of those collegiate assistant who’s won a lot of games and helped build a very good program in recent years.

Sampson has worked at a few different schools, including at Indiana as a graduate assistant under his father. He was a full-time assistant at both Stephen F. Austin and Appalachian State before his father named him to his Houston staff in 2014. Together, they’ve rebuild the Cougars from afterthought to perennial national title threat in these recent years, with the younger Sampson having his hands all over this current program’s success.

It’s possible that Sampson waits until his father retires and takes over at Houston, but this could be an attractive marriage for him and the Red Raiders. While he lacks head coaching experience at any level, he’d bring an undeniable energy that Texas Tech has lacked this past season. Needing a recharge, he might be a fantastic hire in Lubbock, though nobody knows how he’ll fare when running his own program. Hiring Sampson could be fantastic, but picking someone else who’s been a successful head coach would be understandable.