Coach Kelvin Sampson has won 798 games in 36 seasons as a head coach. He’s looking for his first national championship this weekend at the Alamodome. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Since last weekend, everyone in the basketball universe has known of the potential for an epic NCAA Final Four.

The qualifiers include the Florida Gators from the West region and the Duke Blue Devils from the East, and then the Houston Cougars from the Midwest and the Auburn Tigers from the South.

Since last Sunday, when the field was set, the statistics have been crunched, the talent evaluated and the odds posted. Who shoots the three ball the best? Who plays the best defense? How do they play it?

The Final Four, featuring a mixture of four No. 1 seeds for the second time ever and the first time since 2008, has been analyzed seemingly every which way.

So on Thursday, it was funny to hear a reporter at an afternoon news conference break it down in another way.

Basically, he said, when it comes down to the head coaches involved, the Final Four may be viewed as “two old guys” against “two young guys.”

In the first game Saturday at the Alamodome, it’ll be Pearl, 65, sending his Tigers out to play Todd Golden’s Gators in a battle of Southeastern Conference powers.

In the nightcap, we’ll see 69-year-old Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars, representing the Big 12, against Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

As the reporter rolled out his question, he asked Pearl, who was seated at the dais, “You and Kelvin have been through adversity, all these things in your career. How much difference does that make?”

Also, the reporter asked Pearl to comment on a trend by schools to hire 30-something coaches like Golden and Scheyer into jobs at high-profile schools.

As the question was being asked, Pearl started to grin. You could tell he liked it. When it was delivered in full, the coach was still smiling as he delivered the type of answer that has made him so popular over the years.

“You know,” Pearl began, “the only way I look at it is, Kelvin and I have fewer chances to get to where we are right now (in the future), whereas Jon Scheyer and Todd Golden will be back here many, many more times.

“Kelvin and I better take advantage of it this time ‘cause we’re clearly on the back nine. I’m not on the 18th hole yet, but we’re getting closer.

“Todd and Jon don’t give up anything in experience … They just don’t have as much gray hair. They may not have been beaten down as much as Kelvin and I have been over the years.”

For the record, Pearl, in his 30th season as a head coach, has won 694 games. He’s led his teams into 14 NCAA tournaments — including six NCAAs and two Final Fours — in eight years as head coach of the Tigers.

Sampson, in turn, has won 798 games in 36 seasons. In Houston, he has re-energized a fan base, taking the Cougars on seven trips to the NCAA dance.

In his storied career, which started at tiny Montana Tech, he has been to two Final Fours, one with Oklahoma in 2002 and another with Houston in 2021.

Like Pearl, Sampson seemed amused by the topic of the day.

“There’s kind of a divide in this Final Four,” the reporter said. “You got you and Bruce Pearl, then you got two guys that are young enough to be your sons.”

Replied Sampson, smiling, “Thank you. Appreciate that. I hadn’t quite looked at it like that. But I will now.”

At that point, Sampson was told that he and Pearl had negotiated “difficult waters” in their respective careers.

For reference, Pearl and Sampson have both been found to have run afoul of the NCAA rule book, and both have been fired. Pearl, by the University of Tennessee. Sampson, by Indiana University.

But both, undeniably, are on the bounce back.

Both are ascending in stature even as the college game turns to coaches like Golden (131-69 in six years, including three at San Francisco) and Scheyer (89-21 in three, all at Duke).

Both Golden and Scheyer hold their Final Four coaching counterparts in high regard. Golden once worked on Pearl’s Auburn staff for a couple of years.

Scheyer said he elected before his first season as head coach to play a scrimmage with Sampson and Houston, just after he had taken the reins from Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski. He did it because he’s always admired UH’s defensive tenacity and toughness.

Also, Scheyer said he and Sampson texted back and forth that year. It’s clear he holds Sampson in high regard, and from Thursday’s news conference, it was easy to see why.

Sampson has a disarming charm about him. Just listen to him talk.

“Well.” Sampson continued on Thursday, “I coached against my son, (UH assistant coach) Kellen (Sampson), in scrimmages all the time. He’s always kicking my butt. So I’m used to being beat by younger guys.”

He said the move by some schools to hire young talent in coaching is “great for the game, ‘cause the game should always be about the future.”

In making his point, Sampson expressed some dismay at how fans talk about Houston’s teams in the 1960s and the 1980s.

In the ‘80s, former coach Guy V. Lewis led the Cougars to three straight Final Fours with Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and “Phi Slama Jama.”

“I’m thinking none of the kids that I’m recruiting, nor their parents, have ever heard of that,” he said. “That’s the past. Honor it. Let’s honor those guys. But for God’s sake, don’t live in the past.

“When I look at Todd (and) Jon, it makes me feel good about the future of the game. I still think Bruce has got a lot of good years left. He’s a youngster. He’s only 65. Maybe not for this old one.”

Sampson said basketball is in “good hands” with the younger coaches, who are better equipped “to navigate these choppy waters.” He also mentioned how he relies on his assistants.

From his son, to Quannas White, to Hollis Price and K.C. Beard. He said he encourages them to call their peers in the profession and ask about how they’re handling the changing business model of college sports.

“I didn’t know anything about NIL,” he said. “I used to think it was sacrilege if you transferred inside your own league. That would never have happened (years ago.) Now it’s just a different time.”

For college basketball fans, it’s also an exciting time, thanks to two “old guys” who can still coach and hope to prove it again on Saturday night.