Houston Cougars basketball coach Kelvin Sampson is a little prickly when it comes to mispronouncing names, which seems to stem from his childhood trauma of having his name mispronounced. So, when a reporter slipped up and (slightly) mispronounced Houston’s upcoming March Madness opponent, Gonzaga, Sampson jumped all over him.
“Didn’t you try to get a game with [Gon-ZAH-ga] in 2021…” the reporter started to ask before Sampson cut him off.
“[Gon-ZAG-a],” Sampson fired back, sounding annoyed. “It always burns me up when people say that. It’s like calling me Kevin. My name is not Kevin! My mother used to say—people would see my name and say—’Hey, Kevin.’ And she would say, ‘Don’t let people call you Kevin. Your name is Kelvin. Make sure they pronounce your name right.’”
“So, that’s why my antennas go up with that. Same with [Gon-ZAG-a]. They were our neighbors. And it’s not [Spo-KANE], and it’s not [Gon-ZAH-ga]. It’s [Gon-ZAG-a], and it’s [Spo-CAN]. Go ahead,” the crabby coach finished.
Kelvin Sampson corrects a reporter who mispronounces #Gonzaga: “It always burns me up when people say that. It’s like calling me Kevin.”
All-time sound bite here. pic.twitter.com/KeT83Jhyue
— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) March 21, 2025
As the coach of the Houston basketball program, which is one of the favorites to cut down the nets at the end of March Madness, not many will check Kelvin Sampson for his rude outburst. But Sampson still has a lot to prove in March and should be focused more on getting to the championship game—something he’s never done—than scolding reporters for their Gonzaga pronunciation.
Sampson has coached for 21 years at Montana Tech, Washington State (hence the Gonzaga’s neighbor reference), Oklahoma, Indiana, and now Houston. He has an impeccable 720-310 record overall, but he’s struggled in the NCAA Tournament, making just two Final Fours in two-plus decades.
In 2002, his Oklahoma squad lost to Indiana, and his 2021 Houston team lost to Baylor.
The 67-year-old coach also had to spend six seasons in the NBA after being forced to resign the Indiana job due to massive NCAA recruiting violations and a five-year show-cause punishment.
So, until Sampson learns how to pronounce “finishing the job,” maybe he should keep his scolding to himself.
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