Houston basketball enters Monday’s national championship game against Florida one win away from securing the program’s first men’s NCAA Tournament title.

But the Cougars aren’t the only ones that are a win away from history.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, one of college basketball’s top coaches, heads into the national championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio sitting on career win No. 799. A win would further associate his name among the upper echelon of college basketball coaches.

Sampson already has coached the Cougars to one of the greatest comebacks in Final Four history. Houston used an 11-1 run over the last 1:14 of the second half and its No. 1 ranked defense in the country to pull off a come-from-behind win against No. 1 Duke in the Final Four on Saturday.

Here’s a deeper look at the highlights of Sampson’s career ahead of Monday’s national championship game:

FOLLOW THE MADNESS: NCAA men’s tournament bracket, scores, schedules, teams and more.

Kelvin Sampson career record

• Kelvin Sampson’s career win-loss record: 799-353

Sampson has an overall record of 799-353 going into Monday night’s national championship game against Florida. Of his 799 wins, 299 (or 37.4%) of them have come at Houston.

What Sampson has done at Houston is impressive, especially since the Cougars joined the Big 12 before last season afternine years in the American Athletic Conference.

In two years in the Big 12, which prior to this year was considered to be one of the toughest conferences in college basketball, Sampson has led the Cougars to back-to-back outright Big 12 regular-season titles and a Big 12 conference tournament title this season.

But what the Cougars have done in the Big 12 under Sampson just touches the surface of Houston’s successes in his tenure. Under Sampson, Houston has won at least 30 games in nine seasons, made five consecutive Sweet 16 appearances, two Final Fours and has been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament three times — and once when in the AAC, which is hard for a member of a mid-major conference to do.

Here’s a year-by-year breakdown of how the Cougars have fared under Sampson:

• 2014-15 (Houston): 13-19
• 2015-16 (Houston): 22-10
• 2016-17 (Houston): 21-11
• 2017-18 (Houston): 27-8
• 2018-19 (Houston): 33-4 (Sweet 16)
• 2019-20 (Houston): 23-8
• 2020-21 (Houston): 28-4 (Final Four)
• 2021-22 (Houston): 32-6 (Elite Eight)
• 2022-23 (Houston): 33-4 (Sweet 16)
• 2023-24 (Houston): 32-5 (Sweet 16)
• 2024-25 (Houston): 35-4 (National championship game)
• Record at Houston: 299-83

REQUIRED READING: Kelvin Sampson’s old-school Houston program is a reminder of a disappearing era

Kelvin Sampson coaching resume

Here’s a look at Sampson’s coaching stops during his career:

Head coach unless otherwise specified. Assistant role listed in parentheses

• 1979-80: Michigan State (graduate assistant)
• 1980-81: Montana Tech (assistant)
• 1981-85: Montana Tech
• 1985-87: Washington State (assistant)
• 1987-94: Washington State
• 1994-06: Oklahoma
• 2006-08: Indiana
• 2008-11: Milwaukee Bucks (assistant) (NBA)
• 2011-14: Houston Rockets (assistant) (NBA)
• 2014-present: Houston

Kelvin Sampson awards

Here’s a look at the major awards that Sampson has won through his coaching career:

• Two-time Associated Press National Coach of the Year (1995 and 2024)
• Four-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023)
• Two-time Henry Iba National Coach of the Year (1995 and 2024)
• Two-time Frontier Conference Coach of the Year (1983 and 1985)
• Two-time Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year (2024 and 2025)
• Two-time John McLendon National Coach of the Year (2021 and 2024)
• 2002 NABC National Coach of the Year
• 1995 Big 8 Conference Coach of the Year
• 1991 Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year

Click here to look at the full list of awards Sampson has won.

How many wins does Kelvin Sampson have?

Sampson enters Monday’s national championship game against Florida with 799 career wins.

A win on Monday would give Sampson his 800th career win, a feat that has only been reached by 16 other Division I college basketball coaches, per the NCAA’s record book.

Here’s a breakdown of where Sampson ranks in career wins among active coaches, per the NCAA record book:

• 1. Rick Barnes (Tennessee): 836
• 2. John Calipari (Arkansas): 835
• 3. Bill Self (Kansas): 816
• 4. Kelvin Sampson (Houston): 799
• 5. Dana Altman (Oregon): 780
• 6. Rick Pitino (St. John’s): 762
• 7. Mark Few (Gonzaga): 741
• 8. Tom Izzo (Michigan State): 737
• 9. Greg Kampa (Oakland): 715

Note: This list does not include Jim Larrañaga, as he stepped down and retired from Miami in December. If included, he would be at No. 7 with 744 wins.

How many Sweet 16 appearances does Kelvin Sampson have?

Sampson has led his teams to nine NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearances, with his first Sweet 16 coming while coaching at Oklahoma.

He first led Houston to the Sweet 16 in 2019, when the then-No. 3 seed Cougars lost to No. 2 Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

This year’s second-round win against Gonzaga marked the sixth time that Sampson has led Houston past the first week of the NCAA Tournament and into the Sweet 16.

Here’s a look at each of Sampson’s trips to the Sweet 16:

• 1999
• 2002
• 2003
• 2019
• 2021
• 2022
• 2023
• 2024
• 2025

How many Final Four appearances does Kelvin Sampson have?

Houston’s appearance in the Final Four of the 2025 men’s NCAA Tournament marked the third time that Sampson has led a team to the final weekend of the tournament. As noted by the University of Houston, the 69-year-old coach is one of only 16 Division I coaches to lead multiple programs to the Final Four.

“You can’t control what people think. The thing I’ve noticed about being in this position is most people that have opinions of you don’t know you. So they’re basing their opinion on what someone else said. I would encourage people before you make statements about somebody, get to know the person. Might not be what you think,” Sampson said on April 4 when asked about his legacy with leading another team to the national semifinals.

“But I would hope my legacy would be I tried to help my kids be the best they could be so that when they got older they were in a position to help somebody be the best they could be. If that’s my legacy, then I think I’ve had a career worth having.”

The first time that Sampson led a team to the Final Four came at Oklahoma in 2002. To make the Final Four that year, the Sooners defeated No. 15 seed UIC in the first round, No. 7 seed Xavier in the second round, No. 3 seed Arizona in the Sweet 16 and No. 12 seed Missouri in the Elite Eight.

Sampson’s first Final Four at Houston came in 2021, when the Cougars were still then a mid-major in the American Athletic Conference.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.