Kelvin Sampson Returns to Butte for Youth Basketball Camp

College basketball legend Kelvin Sampson will be in Butte this Saturday, August 29, to host a youth basketball camp in the place he got his coaching start.

"There's so many people I stay in contact with that have Butte ties," Sampson said on The Daily Drive with Ace Sauerwein.

It was evident how much Butte meant to Coach Sampson, and the impact it had on his coaching career and life. Heck, even Houston's SID told me how much Sampson loves talking about his days in Butte, America.

"Coach always enjoys talking about Montana and Montana Tech," said Houston Cougars men's basketball SID Jeff Conrad.

Sampson's first job out of college was an assistant coach position at Montana Tech, where Coach will admit he made little to no money.

"I just finished my master's degree at Michigan State University," said Sampson. More on that later, by the way. "There's always one of those schools that you connect with maybe a little bit more than other... But I always felt that Butte helped me get to where I am now."

I asked Coach Sampson whether he would advise a young coach to do the same. Take a job for little to no money, which is obviously a huge risk, in the name of advancing his or her career. He couldn't give a definitive answer, because everybody has different situations.

"Everybody has their own journey, their own path."

Kelvin Sampson, Tom Izzo and Jud Heathcote

Grizzly Sports Hall of Famer Jud Heathcote gave Sampson his start as a grad assistant at Michigan State, and was one of his biggest supporters.

"The way we got connected with the job at Montana Tech [was] Jud's Freshman year in college was at Montana Tech... And my entire career, until Jud passed away, he always bought season tickets. [He] never used them, but he always bought season tickets and donated money to the school that I coached at."

Pretty cool Montana ties.

And guess who replaced Sampson at MSU? A certain Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer named Tom Izzo.

"So Tom and I used to room together in bunk beds, helping Jud run his basketball camps in East Lansing there at Michigan State University, and Tom is still one of my best friends."

Has there ever been a dorm room consisting of more coaching victories than the Sampson-Izzo suite? For those counting at home, that is 1,518 division 1 wins.

For more on Izzo, Heathcote, Butte, the NBA, and more, listen to my full conversation with Coach Sampson below.