HOUSTON – University of Houston Men’s Basketball Head Coach Kelvin Sampson was named one of four finalists for the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday.
This is the fourth National Coach of the Year honor for which the fifth-year Houston coach has been named a finalist.
For his team’s impressive performance in 2018-19, he was previously recognized as a finalist for the Henry Iba Award, the Jim Phelan Award and the Ben Jobe Award earlier this season.
Sampson has twice been honored as National Coach of the Year. He first collected the honor from the Associated Press in 1995 following his first season at Oklahoma and earned the accolade from the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 2002 after leading the Sooners to the NCAA Final Four
Rick Barnes (Tennessee), Chris Beard (Texas Tech) and Tony Bennett (Virginia Tech) joined Sampson as finalists for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award.