What Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said at Big 12 Media Day
It's safe to say Kelvin Sampson has seen it all.
Houston's men's basketball coach started his career in 1979 and - as he pointed out at Wednesday's Big 12 Media Day - he coached in the Big 12 when it was still the Big Eight.
When Sampson was asked about the changing landscape of college basketball - specifically NIL and the transfer portal - he had a great answer.
"I think all coaches have to evolve," Sampson said. "The younger coaches that come in this generation, it's not new to them. They're not evolving from anything. They're born into it.
"My best teacher was mistakes, and I made enough for everybody. I think just being able to evolve, change ... I think when you live your life from a foundation of humility, that means that what you do is not always right. There might be a better way. Just being humble about those things. The way that I used to do it probably wouldn't work today. And I had to have enough humility to understand that."
Here are the highlights from Sampson's press conference at Big 12 Media Day on Wednesday in Kansas City.
Sampson on the current state of the game and how he handles NIL and the transfer portal:
"The game is way bigger than I am. When my time is up and I walk away, the game's not gonna miss me. ... This game has given me far more than I could ever give it. I enjoy teaching, I enjoy coaching, I enjoy mentoring, I enjoy trying to make a difference in our kids lives. I enjoy that. I refuse to let NIL or transfer portal penetrate my joy.
"I don't spend my time worrying about NIL. I'm not thinking about it. We deal with it, obviously. I think guys recruit other coaches players probably more than their own sometimes. We're a living example of that, but all our kids came back. And I appreciate that. Our staff and our culture and our program have a lot to do with that. The NIL stuff is what it is. But my job has not changed because I will not let it change."
"Let's adapt and move on."
Sampson on his coaching influences and how coaching has changed:
"For me, the guy that probably influenced me the most my first couple of years as a head coach in the Pac-10 is Ralph Miller. If you're a young journalist you've probably never heard of him. He's been gone a long time, but he's one of the great, great coaches and teachers and builders of programs that our game has ever known. He really influenced me in a positive way. ... That was 87, 88, 89. ... The great Lute Olson was at Arizona. Mike Montgomery. George Raveling. A lot has happened since then, a lot of years, and now I see all the young coaches in the Big 12. These guys are much better coaches today than I was ... they're better equipped. They have better backgrounds, they have better experience."
Sampson on how Terrance Arceneaux's ACL rehab is progressing:
"We gotta watch that. ACLs ... it wasn't that long ago when that was a 12-month recovery. They'll clear him quicker now, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're ready to play in a game or go a full two-hour practice or do condititiong. Terrance is making good progress, but he's not 100 percent. But we're having to watch that."
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.