While there’s no doubt that the Big 12 Conference features some of the nation’s best college basketball coaches, not everyone can win a National Title each season.
Unfortunately, the Houston Cougars came up short in the 2025 National Championship game against Florida, giving Todd Golden his first national title.
With Golden winning his first title, 247Sports’ Carter Bahns had the idea to rank coaches most likely to earn their first National Championship win in the coming years, and one name from the Big 12 Conference was the first mentioned, Houston’s Kelvin Sampson.
“This month’s title game brought an agonizing conclusion to a magical Houston basketball season and forced Kelvin Sampson to wait at least one more year to finally get over the championship hump. There is no overstating how impressive it is that Sampson turned this recently dormant program into a perennial Final Four contender, though. The breakthrough will come soon enough as a result of his remarkable work, and it could even be on the immediate horizon as Sampson’s talent retention set the Cougars up as the way-too-early No. 1 team in the country.”
Sampson’s Cougars have been one of the best programs in the nation over the past decade, and since moving to the Big 12, the nation’s best basketball conference, their dominance has remained.
The Cougars are 67-10 since making the jump from the AAC, and are expected to be an early favorite for the 2026 National Championship as well. While the Natty Chip continues to evade Sampson at Houston, with their impressive work, the program should have a great shot at earning the title in the near future.
