Houston men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, a Naismith Hall of Fame finalist, criticized his athletic department's NIL budget, calling it 'very poor' and expressing concerns about recruiting due to limited funds. He stated the team is competing but struggling to keep up with other programs financially.
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson huddles with players during a time out against New Orleans during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Houston. Houston men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson is one of the best coaches in the game and is a finalist this year for the Naismith Hall of Fame.
And so it’s perhaps no surprise that Sampson called out his own athletic department for being “very poor” when it comes to NIL and paying players. “We participate in the NIL just like everybody else,” Sampson told reporters after No. 8 Houston beat UCF, 79-55, on Wednesday . “We know what our kids’ market value is in there. Trust me, they’re not starving here. They’re getting exactly what the market is for them. “But you know, we have a very poor athletic department. We’re poor. You know. We were poor when I got here, and we’re still poor. We probably have the lowest budget of anybody in Power-4. “And the way our recruiting is going, we have to stop at some point because we don’t have enough money to keep bringing in really good players. And that’s not easy for us to do. When people ask about recruiting, teams that have the best recruiting classes usually have the most money. That’s the way it is today.” Back in November, Sampson said that his program had “no choice” but to compete in the $20 million Players’ Championship because of the prize money.Sampson pointed out that Houston has a two-man recruiting class for 2026 of four-star guard Ikenna Alozie and four-star big man Arafan Diane, but he admitted he wasn’t sure who else his team could add. Teams now have to manage their NIL budgets to add high school players and transfers, as well as retaining their current players.“But who knows else we’ll sign because how much money we have. It’s not about who do we want to sign. It’s who can we afford to sign.”Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers hoops at all levels -- NBA, College and Recruiting. For NJ.com, he has written about how projected No. 1 NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg wasn’t born a basketball...
Kelvin Sampson Houston Basketball NIL Recruiting Budget
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