PDA

View Full Version : Report: Kellen Sampson New Sooner BB Graduate Assistant



SoonerShark
5/31/2008, 08:23 AM
http://newsok.com/kellen-sampson-hired-as-graduate-assistant/article/3251004/?tm=1212238451

Kellen Sampson hired as graduate assistant

By Scott Wright
Staff Writer
NORMAN — Former Sooner Kellen Sampson has rejoined the Oklahoma basketball program as a graduate assistant, multiple sources confirmed Friday.
Sampson will be part of OU coach Jeff Capel's staff for the 2008-09 season.

Sampson was a grad assistant for his father and former OU coach Kelvin Sampson at Indiana last season. Before that, Kellen spent four years as a walk-on for the Sooners.

Kelvin Sampson resigned in February during his first season at Indiana under a dark cloud of NCAA violations. The Sooners came under NCAA sanctions at the end of Sampson's 12-year stint at OU. He is now working for the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA.

sooner518
5/31/2008, 12:13 PM
take away his cell phone!!!

jk I always liked Kellen and hopefully he can be a good coach like his dad, minus the recruiting violations

Big Red Ron
5/31/2008, 12:39 PM
On his first day, I'd bring him to his office and let him figure out on his own that there isn't a phone in it.

;)

badger
5/31/2008, 02:41 PM
Oh, and KS' Indy penalties have been bedowngraded.
Linky (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3419875)

However, KS has not been upgraded from his current status of "Don't ask, don't tell."

colleyvillesooner
5/31/2008, 02:54 PM
Oh, and KS' Indy penalties have been bedowngraded.
Linky (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3419875)

However, KS has not been upgraded from his current status of "Don't ask, don't tell."

Only 1 of the 5 was downgraded, though.

stoopified
5/31/2008, 04:23 PM
Good luck,Kellen.

soonerfan28
5/31/2008, 04:26 PM
Maybe Kellen realized who he should be mentored by. Obviously it's not his dad and Capel is a pretty good coach to be learning under. Everything I've heard has been positive about how intelligent Kellen is about the game, so I wish him the best.

SoonerShark
6/1/2008, 08:02 AM
Oh, and KS' Indy penalties have been bedowngraded.
Linky (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3419875)

However, KS has not been upgraded from his current status of "Don't ask, don't tell."

Kelvin is a victim. All Kelvin is guilty of is a combination of itchy trigger finger and let your fingers do the walking. He is a victim of growing up in an era when too many westerns were on TV and AT&T was the sole phone provider in much of the U.S. He has a disability, restless finger syndrome, exacerbated by a combination of cultural factors. He should be understood, not punished.

Vegas Sooner
6/3/2008, 10:23 PM
Cool.

SleestakSooner
6/4/2008, 03:53 AM
Maybe Kellen realized who he should be mentored by. Obviously it's not his dad and Capel is a pretty good coach to be learning under. Everything I've heard has been positive about how intelligent Kellen is about the game, so I wish him the best.

Low blow. Perhaps he's coming back to OU to work because his father no longer has a job for him. It's a pretty huge jump to call Kelvin a bad father. Seems to me he raised a decent son. Seriously, lay off old coach, he did OU proud for quite a few seasons.

Mad Dog Madsen
6/4/2008, 08:34 AM
Low blow. Perhaps he's coming back to OU to work because his father no longer has a job for him. It's a pretty huge jump to call Kelvin a bad father. Seems to me he raised a decent son. Seriously, lay off old coach, he did OU proud for quite a few seasons.

I've always liked Kellen and wish him nothing but the best of luck. I also wish we could let all the Kelvin jokes go. That was what, 3 years ago??? I think it's time to move on. We have Jeff Capel now, and a bright future ahead of us in Sooner Basketball.

Vegas Sooner
6/10/2008, 02:45 AM
exactly

KingBarry
6/15/2008, 05:21 AM
Yeah, seriously, guys; it's time people cut Kellen some slack.

Think about hard it must be for him to come back to Norman, given what's happened there, and think about what a compliment he is paying to his years at OU by choosing to come back. He's trying to return home, I think it's admirable that he wants to do that, and I think that we should let him.

I wish him nothing but the best.

Remembering Tom Stidham
6/15/2008, 01:34 PM
I will never understand why Kelvin did what he did anymore than I understood David Bliss at Baylor. I knew both men well and their families. A close and long-time friend of mine was Kellen's coach at NHS his junior year and thought the world of the boy and his family. Kelvin's parents were wonderful people. I guess there are just some things we are not meant to understand. I would never have known about the Lumbee tribe except for my relationshiip with this family. I am a Seminole and appreciate what that means.

r5TPsooner
6/15/2008, 01:38 PM
I will never understand why Kelvin did what he did anymore than I understood David Bliss at Baylor. I knew both men well and their families. A close and long-time friend of mine was Kellen's coach at NHS his junior year and thought the world of the boy and his family. Kelvin's parents were wonderful people. I guess there are just some things we are not meant to understand. I would never have known about the Lumbee tribe except for my relationshiip with this family. I am a Seminole and appreciate what that means.

Because good people do dumb (in Bliss' case very bad) things sometimes. To err is human.

KingBarry
6/16/2008, 02:20 AM
I will never understand why Kelvin did what he did anymore than I understood David Bliss at Baylor. I knew both men well and their families. A close and long-time friend of mine was Kellen's coach at NHS his junior year and thought the world of the boy and his family. Kelvin's parents were wonderful people. I guess there are just some things we are not meant to understand. I would never have known about the Lumbee tribe except for my relationshiip with this family. I am a Seminole and appreciate what that means.

You know, I can understand him pushing the boundaries at Oklahoma, but to leave Norman under a cloud and then do the same violations in Bloomington just does boggle the mind.

I'll say this, though. I made a mistake once. I was very sick, under extreme stress, and had very little sleep for months. I can't imagine why I did it, and it really wasn't a big deal, it was just something I wouldn't have wanted to do, so why did it happen?

When i see politicians, big-time coaches, celebrities, etc, screw up, I guess now I have an idea why they make some of the decisions that they do, and have a little more sympathy for them.

Scott D
6/16/2008, 07:00 AM
The pressure to win can make coaches do some dumb things. The pressure to get projects done at work can make people do some dumb things.

soonerfan28
6/16/2008, 10:08 AM
Low blow. Perhaps he's coming back to OU to work because his father no longer has a job for him. It's a pretty huge jump to call Kelvin a bad father. Seems to me he raised a decent son. Seriously, lay off old coach, he did OU proud for quite a few seasons.

Maybe I wasn't clear. What I meant was that he wants to be mentored by someone who is not going to show you how to cheat. I don't know how Kelvin is as a father, so I can't judge on that. I agree that he did a lot for our program, but the way he left was messed up. That is what he will be remembered for more then anything at OU. I still don't understand how you can leave a program when you're the reason we're under investigation. Then losing the class that we had coming in.

ousoonerfan
6/16/2008, 10:22 AM
Kellen will be a great asset to the basketball program.

Good for him and us.

soonerfan28
6/16/2008, 11:03 AM
I think it took a lot for him to stay for his senior season after what his dad had done. I like the guy and would have to agree that he will be a huge asset for the program.

KingBarry
6/17/2008, 02:09 AM
Maybe I wasn't clear. What I meant was that he wants to be mentored by someone who is not going to show you how to cheat. I don't know how Kelvin is as a father, so I can't judge on that. I agree that he did a lot for our program, but the way he left was messed up. That is what he will be remembered for more then anything at OU. I still don't understand how you can leave a program when you're the reason we're under investigation. Then losing the class that we had coming in.

Understand I am not defending Kelvin Sampson, but your statement that Kellen "wants to be mentored by someone who is not going to show you how to cheat" is vastly simplistic.

If his team is down by 3 with 8 seconds on the clock, and the opponent has possession of the ball, how many coaches would NOT instruct his players to intentionally foul to stop the clock? That's right. ZERO. As committing fouls are illegal, that is CHEATING, plain and simple. EVERYBODY cheats, bending the rules is part of the game, and it is only to degree that this varies.

Therefore, what Kellen "wants" is someone to teach him to manage cheating.

Let's face it, the number one reason that schools are so sensitive to NCAA violations is the high penalty that they have to pay if caught or, in terms of publicity, even if only suspected.

Committing fouls doesn't undermine the integrity of an institution, because everybody does it out in the open. But that doesn't mean it's not cheating, it just means the penalties are less.

But

okieslp
6/22/2008, 04:15 PM
Hey, don't we all make mistakes? Its just that there is a heck of a lot less public scrutiny on our, lets say "missteps." If each and every one of us had to answer hundreds, nay, thousands of critics, don't you think there is a good chance that the bricks we throw up from time to time wouldn't be seen as complete and utter screw-ups? It also should not cloud our judgment of a great kid who has taken a next step in what we can guess as a road to HC somewhere. Bon Chance Kellen, glad to see you again!

badger
6/25/2008, 02:14 PM
If I had to take a wild, outrageous guess, I would guess that Kelvin and Kellen were planning to coach together at Indiana for many years to come. Kellen was a spirited leader from the bench, Kelvin was a spirited head coach. They had like-basketball minds and improved players on the court - players that wanted to play better because of the Sampsons.

It must have been the letdown of a lifetime (again, just wild guess here) for both Kellen and Kelvin to have things turn out the way that they did - and in such a short time after arriving! Not saying Kelvin didn't bring it on himself by not following rules, and not ruling out Kellen having a part in it also, but still, the Sampsons had a very lavish pad dedicated to hosting Indiana recruits and players (much like he did here in Oklahoma - I hear his favorite movies to show players were The Patriot and Remember the Titans) for a Mrs. Sampson-cooked meal. Just a few years after arriving, they're out. Out already! How could Kellen have planned for this to happen?!

So, kudos to K-Pro Capel for bringing Kellen back home - this really is Kellen's home, as this is the university he grew up watching daddy coach, the university he played for and graduated from and such. Kellen was stuck in a bad situation involving IU (again, not saying that this is factual and not saying KS didn't bring it on himself by cheating, so don't go there, this is my personal guesstimate alone!) and Capel brought him back to OU.

Next year, OU will have a solid team. Kellen's cheerleading and benchleading might just put us over that hump to get us past the second round and into t-shirt making territory :D

T-shirt making teritory: (n) When an NCAA basketball tournament team makes it to the third round of play or beyond, thus being able to make a t-shirt to commemorate a Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four or National Championship game berth.

Bosley
6/25/2008, 02:46 PM
The only thing I know about Kellen he's an annoying drunk. One night he introduced himself to me and everyone in the room like....6 effing times.

*derr I'm keelln sanposin.....hey you im kelleen smpson*

We got it man....

badger
6/25/2008, 02:52 PM
The only thing I know about Kellen he's an annoying drunk. One night he introduced himself to me and everyone in the room like....6 effing times.

*derr I'm keelln sanposin.....hey you im kelleen smpson*

We got it man....

I can think of worse things to do when you're drunk than being polite and introducing yourself to everyone.

Bosley
6/25/2008, 04:23 PM
I can think of worse things to do when you're drunk than being polite and introducing yourself to everyone.

I dont think you quite get the attitude behind the introductions on a message board. I'm not trashing the guy, just thought it was annoying. We where with some girls and and he kept stumbling into our "bubble" and introducing himself over and over again like one of us was supposed to say "Oh, you're the basketball coaches kid".

I wish him well.

badger
6/25/2008, 05:26 PM
I dont think you quite get the attitude behind the introductions on a message board. I'm not trashing the guy, just thought it was annoying. We where with some girls and and he kept stumbling into our "bubble" and introducing himself over and over again like one of us was supposed to say "Oh, you're the basketball coaches kid".

I wish him well.

Ok then :)