Kelvin Sampson has been around the block for a very long time. Starting his coaching career in the late 1970s, the legendary head coach has seen it all, and he clearly tries to instill his learnings into the players at the Houston Cougars.
So when former Houston players decide to call their former boss for advice, he naturally has some feedback, and in his own words, it usually revolves around one thing. Saving money.
“When they call me, I go from being their coach to being their financial advisor,” he said.
“Save your money. You don’t need a Mercedes. There’s nothing wrong with driving a Ford. Go to Chastang Ford, get a Ford Explorer or Expedition. Or go to high country Chevrolet and get a nice Tahoe. Nothing wrong with those cars.”
And Coach Sampson comes from just the right place while giving this advice. Its a perennial problem that might just become a whole lot worse in the NIL era. Too many players earn far too much money in college via their NIL deals, and if they aren’t quite good enough to make it big in the NBA draft, their stock falls massively.
While the G-League does offer some benefit to players on the fringes of success, unfortunately not a lot of athletes are able to save up enough to live comfortably through their lives.
Have Other Coaches Given the Same Advice?
Kelvin Sampson isn’t the only high profile college coach to be giving financial advice to players. NCAA Tournament winner Dusty May revealed that Michigan players are being taught to save money in the NIL world.
“They all have agents and they all have financial advisors now and they have professionals that work for them. But we educate them every day … Guys don’t go broke because they bought their mom a house. They go broke because they try to buy everyone a little bit of something and it adds up,” he said on “The Steam Room”.
The message seems to be the same – save now or suffer later.
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