Lumbee basketball coach voted best in NCAA

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His team came up a step or two shy of a national title this year, but as far as Kelvin Sampson's peers were concerned, he was tops.

Sampson, a full-blooded Lumbee Indian, is the head coach for the University of Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball squad. After guiding the Sooners to a 31-5 record this season, he was selected as the top coach in the NCAA Division 1 ranks. He was presented with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) coach-of-the-year award.

The Sooners made it to the NCAA's Final Four tournament held in Atlanta. Oklahoma's national title aspirations, however, were vanquished after they were defeated by the Indiana Hoosiers 73-64 in their semi-final contest held on March 30.

The Maryland Terrapins then defeated the Hoosiers 64-52 in the national final staged on April 1.

The Sooners were making their first Final Four appearance since 1988. Sampson said he'd gladly give up his award for another shot at a national crown.

"I'd trade it in a minute, as well as any other awards I'd win in the future," Sampson told Windspeaker, in a phone interview from his collegiate office. Sampson was also chosen as the Chevrolet Coach of the Year, an honor that is voted on by personnel from CBS Sports.

Sampson added he was somewhat puzzled to be presented with his award.

"I've always said any individual award is always a misrepresentation," he said. "I don't know how you can win an individual award in a team sport."

Sampson then took time to credit those around him.

"I have a great staff," he said. "And obviously we have some talented players that have bought into our system."

As proof, Ray Lopes, Sampson's assistant coach for the past eight years, was hired to be the new head coach of California's Fresno State.

This marked Sampson's eighth year at Oklahoma. He had not received any national coaching honors since 1995, his first season with the Sooners. That year he earned three accolades, including being selected as the top coach by the United States Basketball Writers Association.

Others who dubbed Sampson as the best collegiate coach in '95 were the news service The Associated Press, as well as the periodical Basketball Weekly.

Sampson had led the Sooners to a 23-9 record in '95. During his eight-year career at Oklahoma, Sampson has an impressive over-all record of 187-74.

Prior to joining the Sooners, Sampson had coached at Montana Tech and Washington State. In total he's coached 19 years in the NCAA ranks.

Sampson hails from Laurinburg, North Carolina.

"We didn't grow up on a reservation but we were very proud of our heritage," he said.

Sampson added he frequently speaks to Native groups in Oklahoma.

"There are 49 tribes in Oklahoma and I deal a lot with Native American groups," he said. "I do plenty of speaking engagements with them."

Sampson said Oklahoma University has a large enrolment of Native students-as many as 2,500-but there is one thing he has never done during his university career.

"I've never coached a Native kid in 19 years," he said. "I'd love to have a Native kid that was good enough to play at this level."