4.5 Kelvin Sampson: Don’t Quit

“No one ever loses at anything as long as you don’t quit.” - Kevin Sampson

When you fall behind, what do you do? Do you quit or keep going?

In a Final Four game against Duke, Houston had less than a 10% chance of winning the game with less than 5 minutes left.

In this situation, a lot of people would just go through the motions until the final buzzer, but Houston didn’t. They never quit, and they ended up winning.

When asked to describe the resiliency of his team down the stretch, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said, “No one ever loses at anything as long as you don’t quit.”

But how? How do you keep going and pushing when it doesn’t look like you are going to win?

Coach Sampson said it’s all about the work they put in and the trust they have with each other. He said, “They trust their work, and they trust their teammates.”

If you put in the right work with the right people, you will always have a chance.

Every day, you are either making deposits or withdrawals. Deposits are the work you put in, and withdrawals are what are able to take out. The more deposits you earn, the more you have to withdraw from, and the greater the gaps or deficits you can overcome.

Houston is known for being a hardworking program on the court and in the weight room, and the habits they’ve built allowed them to come back multiple times to win.

So, work hard and make deposits and when it gets tough, don’t quit and trust the work.

Question of the Day: How can you make the deposits you need today to be able to make the withdrawals you will need tomorrow?