Kelvin Sampson knows fear.\nHe knows there are two kinds of fear -- a kind that cripples you and a kind that mobilizes you, and he knows how to control both. He's not afraid because he's long since swept off the boldness of youth for the quiet confidence of middle age. By now, he knows that success in basketball and in life are both interwoven and distinct, depending on the time of day. He knows his talents, knows they serve him well.\nMostly, he's not afraid because he's been here -- staring down challenge, trying to uplift a program -- before. That risk is always only what you make it.\nSampson is a new coach at IU, but he's not new to coaching. His start, from humble beginnings in Pembroke, N.C., has taken him through 24 years of coaching and four programs, from Montana Tech to Bob Knight's old office. It's taken him from an $1,100 stipend to $1.1 million.\n"A lot of people start at third and think they've hit a triple," he said Tuesday, sitting down with the Indiana Daily Student Tuesday for the first time since he arrived in Bloomington in March. "When I started, I didn't even start at home plate. I don't think I was even in the ballpark."\nSampson, IU's third new basketball coach in 34 years, like so many other coaches, like so many other men, can begin his story with his father. \nJohn W. "Ned" Sampson was the head coach at Pembroke High School in Pembroke, N.C., where he had a reputation not only for his own athletic exploits -- he was once dubbed the best Native American athlete from North Carolina -- but for the way he had carved out his high school basketball program: with defense, rebounding, grit, integrity. Before he knew it, his son was buying in. Kelvin was the captain of two of his father's teams, earning himself a spot at the local NAIA school, Pembroke State University (now UNC-Pembroke).\n"Anyone who's played basketball at any level will tell you they have a favorite coach, someone who's coached them that was the absolute best they ever had," Sampson said. "Mine is my father."\nSometime after playing basketball at Pembroke, Sampson decided he wanted to coach, too. \nHe applied for and received a graduate assistant position under former Michigan State coach Jud Heathcote, whose tutelage changed his outlook on basketball, on coaching and on life. \nNow he knew. He needed to be a college coach.
"You want to know how I decided to go to Montana Tech?" Sampson asked. "I had just been married. My wife Karen -- she's always been the bright one in this situation -- looked on the map at Butte, Mont., and saw a star. You know what the star means? It means they had a U-Haul drop. We figured, 'Hey, if there's a U-Haul drop, we might as well give it a shot.'"\nSo Sampson was off to be an assistant coach at a small technical school in the \nAmerican West. He was offered an $1,100 stipend for his services. He took it.\nAfter a year, the head coach who guided Sampson to the school left Montana Tech. Just like that, Sampson was the head coach of a collegiate basketball team at the age of 26. \nThe Orediggers struggled in his first year. \n"We should have won zero games, and we won seven," Sampson said. \nThen he had instant success. In his next four years, Montana Tech had a 73-45 record and won two Frontier League championships. \n"Opportunities started presenting themselves," Sampson said.
Sampson chose the next opportunity, an assistant's position at Washington State University. Two years later, Sampson was named head coach. Of a Division I school. At the age of 33. \nIn 1992, the Cougars made the NIT, the first time since 1983 the school had experienced postseason play. Sampson won Pac-10 coach of the year and two years later led the school to its first NCAA Tournament in 11 years. \n"Opportunities started presenting themselves again," Sampson said.
This time, the decision was more difficult. Lots of schools came calling, but Sampson was in a good position. He had his best team yet, still in the developmental stage. \n"We were getting ready to be really, really good," he said.\nStill, the opportunities were there -- opportunities to thrive, opportunities to move inland, opportunities to take down and build up yet again. More chances, more risk. \nSampson chose Oklahoma; it stuck out to him. Good school, good conference, good athletics. \nHe settled down. He and Karen had two youngsters in tow: a daughter, Lauren, who was 12, and a son, Kellen, who was 9. For 12 years, they made Norman, Okla., their home, sending their kids to school, staying in one place, blending into the community. \nFor 12 years on the basketball court, Sampson commanded consistent success. He guided OU to eight consecutive 20-win seasons, 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, and more Big 12 wins than any coach in the conference's history. \nLike always, opportunities started presenting themselves. This time was different, though.\n"I was home," Sampson said. "I didn't think I'd ever leave Norman."\nThen, IU initiated. He had to listen.
IU was the opportunity this time, one of the few places in the country that could pull him away.\n"I was hesitant to leave for a lot of reasons," he said. "We had maybe our best recruiting class ever coming in. It was a matter of risk. I took a risk.\n"If you ask any basketball-knowledgeable person in this country for the top six or seven places associated with college basketball, somewhere in that list, they'll say IU," Sampson said.\nNow, the guy who took a one-time, $1,100 stipend from Montana Tech was accepting a salary package with a base of $500,000 and $600,000 in supplemental income -- $1.1 million for his first year.
Sampson has been on campus now for about six months. He's settled into Bloomington, felt the enthusiasm of basketball fans at football games, been the grand marshal for the Little 500 and pushed toward his first season under the blinding IU hoops spotlight. \n"The people here love basketball," he said. "The students here are the most important fans in the building because they create the atmosphere. Part of the attraction here is those 17,000 fans you have every game." \nThe style he developed at Oklahoma, the style he learned from his father -- defense, rebounding, toughness -- has already begun to take shape here. His team can be seen jogging around campus. He sports IU gear in his office, wears a new T-shirt that says "Touch Every Line." \nWith two weeks left before Hoosier Hysteria, he's ready to take his team's early work to the next stage. \n"It's a long process, the basketball season," he said. "It wears you out. But in September, October, you start chomping at the bit. It's time to go."
It's time to go. Time to go like he did for 12 years at Oklahoma, for eight years at Washington State. It's time to whip out the whistle and roll the basketballs for the 25th team he's coached, the way he did for his first team at the age of 26. He and his young wife stuffed what little they had and rolled out into the open air of Montana, not sure what they were chasing but chasing something. \n"You have to touch every rung on the ladder on your way up," he said. "You can't plan your path."\nAfter 24 teams, hundreds of players and even more wins, Sampson still remembers the difference between positive fear and negative fear, between the fear that slows you down and the fear that jolts you out of bed in the morning. He's felt the fear before. He knows it now. Sampson is most familiar with the kind that maximizes potential -- that repays the debt he believes we all owe. \n"What we are is God's gift to us," he loves to say. "What we become is our gift to God." \nKelvin Sampson might have already repaid his debt or he might not have. Considering where he started and where he is now, he's got to be close.
