Onetime Indiana University coach Kelvin Sampson, fired a little more than five years ago, is in the mix for four of the six NBA head coaching openings.
Sampson, 57, has interviewed for the vacant positions at both Milwaukee and Charlotte, and is expected to interview for the openings in Philadelphia and Phoenix this week, a source close to the situation told CBSSports.com.
Sampson was forced to resign at Indiana in February 2008 for making impermissible phone calls -- and was thrown a lifeline by the San Antonio Spurs, where he finished out the 2008 campaign as an advisor, sitting behind the bench for games. Sampson spent the next three seasons on Scott Skiles' staff in Milwaukee before joining Kevin McHale in Houston in 2011.
Sampson had nine consecutive 20-win seasons in Oklahoma, going to the NCAA tournament in 11 of 12 seasons in Norman -- including a Final Four appearance in 2002 -- before taking the Indiana job in 2006. Sampson took the Hoosiers to the second round of the NCAA tourney in his first season in Bloomington and was 22-4 when he parted ways with the program. Sampson received a five-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA.
But now Sampson, much like another former another college coaches who dealt with turmoil and has reinvented himself: Quin Snyder.
Sampson is in the mix for four openings -- and ex-Missouri head coach Snyder is also on the radar for multiple openings, a source told CBSSports.com. Snyder was forced to resign at Missouri in 2006 amid an NCAA investigation, spent three seasons as the head coach of the Austin Toros in the NBDL, and was an assistant for Moscow CSKA this past season.
Sources told CBSSports.com that Charlotte and Phoenix are interested in Snyder. In his seven years at Missouri, Snyder was 126-91. However, the program was placed on probation in 2004 because of activities surrounding former player Ricky Clemons.
