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Bad memories: Kelvin Sampson will return to Assembly Hall for NCAA Tournament game

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Whether it was intentional or not, the NCAA made Indiana fans cringe a little bit this weekend. Former Hoosiers head coach Kelvin Sampson will be returning to Assembly Hall this weekend, only this time he’ll be leading Houston in the NCAA Tournament.

Sampson was the head coach at Indiana from 2006-08 and had plenty of success during his short time in Bloomington. He posted a 43-15 record but he placed the school under NCAA investigation after alleged recruiting violations came to light. The two parties went their separate ways and IU’s program took a major hit, falling to the bottom of the B1G for the next three seasons.

In 2014, Sampson was named the head coach at Houston and has done extremely well over the last seven seasons. The Cougars are 163-63 under his guidance and have appeared in the postseason all but one year (barring 2020 because the postseason was canceled).

This year, the Cougars finished 24-3 and are a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They’ll play Cleveland State at Assembly Hall, and Sampson will walk the same sidelines he spent two years of his coaching career.

Considering the turbulence Indiana’s program has went through over the last decade, Sampson might be happy Assembly Hall is only permitting 500 fans to attend games.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB