MONSTER ENERGY BIG 12 MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS

October 21, 2026

Kelvin Sampson

Chase McCarty

Mercy Miller

Joseph Tugler

Houston Cougars

Media Day Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the Houston men.

Coach, we were talking about the toughness that you have established as a continuous culture at Houston. Feels harder to do that day to day, especially with how fast college basketball is changing. How have you been able to keep that continuity and toughness in your program?

KELVIN SAMPSON: I think it starts with recruiting high-character kids. Immature kids would struggle at our place. I think the consistency that we have is because we've had kids that choose to come to Houston for that reason. They want to come here.

We've signed a lot of kids the last four or five years. Parents have gotten heavily involved. The moms and the dads. They think their son has a chance to be really good, they don't choose schools as much as they choose coaches now. I've noticed that. 'Cause that's what they say to us.

So I've had Jojo for four years. J'Wan Roberts for six. Emanuel Sharp for five. Mercy and Chase are going into their third years. All our kids graduate. They go to class, the ones that have classes. Don't have as many classes as they used to have. That online thing.

When they do good academically, we're not going to take the credit for that. That's the way they were raised. I played college basketball and college baseball. I loved both my coaches. But my mom and dad were the reason I graduated from college.

THE MODERATOR: Jojo, your coach talked about how all three of you have been around for a while, and you keep coming back. College basketball is a revolving door; feels like free agency. Why did you want to build your legacy at Houston and stay at Houston?

JOSEPH TUGLER: I wanted the hardest thing for me and my family. My family was behind it. I always want to be around 'em. Shoot, I do it for 'em. The best thing for me. So they all right here supporting me. That's all I wanted.

THE MODERATOR: Mercy, same question for you.

MERCY MILLER: Why wouldn't you want to play for the best coach in college basketball? That's what I asked myself. Coach Sampson, what he's done here at Houston and all the guys, how he gets us ready and prepares us every single day, there's nowhere else you'd want to be at. That's me.

THE MODERATOR: Chase, Houston is so tough and team oriented. What do you think the magic is to buying into the team and not caring about the individual?

CHASE McCARTY: Yeah, well, first off, Coach recruits good guys. If you're a part of the team and Coach sees something in you, that's a knock to him.

We all buy into what Coach tells us what to do. He tells us to come with the right attitude and effort every day. As long as you come with that, you'll have a great day and a great year with Coach.

THE MODERATOR: What keeps you wanting to come back and do this again? What drives you day to day?

KELVIN SAMPSON: I just love teaching. I don't know if I love the games as much as I used to. I love teaching the players, being around them.

Then you build special relationships. I see them in their greatest moments, but I also see them in their weakest moments. I see them at the height of their powers, doing great. I see them at their lowest moments.

But you're part of that. I've said this many times. I don't have to be their life, but they are my life. It's just what we do.

I've been married for 47 years. I've had the perfect partner. The night before every home game our kids come over to our house. That was my wife's idea back in 1988 when I was coaching at Washington State.

I remember my first Media Day. It was at the LAX Marriott. They put us in a room with 10 tables. The only table that had nobody to come to their table was my table?

They were all at Lute Olson, Walt Hazzard, Mike Montgomery, Lou Campanelli, George Raveling, all those guys.

Things like that didn't put a chip on your shoulder. I was born with a chip on my shoulder. It makes sure it's firmly there.

I understood it. I hadn't earned the right to deserve to have anybody come to my table, especially when you look at who the other guys were.

I'm proud of my career because I'm proud of the players that I recruited and coached and taught over the years, NS then the relationships I've built.

I meet with my staff every day at 10:00. Most days I end the meeting with relationships, relationships, relationships. Coaches are a lot like firemen. When you can find an issue and you can put it out when it's a brush fire, then it never becomes a forest fire.

The only way you can find those things out is make sure you and your staff have great relationships with your kids. That's been I think the key to player retention, but also a key to our consistent success.

THE MODERATOR: You watched so much talent that you had on last year's squad graduate to the NBA level, which naturally will create more opportunities for these three student-athletes. Jojo, where do you feel you can lead out and have an even more expanded role?

JOSEPH TUGLER: Expanded role? Just being on the floor. Just being a part of every game. Not taking myself out of every game, any game this whole year. Just being part of games, be part of teams, being part of the fight every game this year. That's going to be the next step for me.

THE MODERATOR: Mercy, when you watch Jojo play defense, what does that do for you emotionally?

MERCY MILLER: Yeah, the way he plays defense boosts the whole team. Somebody that competes like that, gets after everybody, it just makes you want to play harder. Anytime me and Joe are on the floor together, it's definitely a good thing.

THE MODERATOR: What do you expect to do in your increased role this year?

MERCY MILLER: I feel like I have to stay hungry, stay humble. To be able to be in this position it's took a lot of hard work. I just got to keep doing the things I've been doing before. Just keep showing up every day. Just keep getting better.

I feel like everything takes time, but when the right time and the lights come on, it will be time to go.

THE MODERATOR: Chase, were you do you see the most growth in your own game as you approach this next season?

CHASE McCARTY: Yeah, I've seen probably the most growth in my game is just trying to come every day and be consistent. There was a lot of instances last year where I felt like I didn't have the great pop that I could have every day.

I'm really just coming in inspiring the guys, getting the guys ready to go. I'm a very vocal guy. I feel like I help in that way, giving the guys' morale, right? Get everybody juiced up, get good vibes in the gym.

THE MODERATOR: With how fast paced the game is changing from a management standpoint, NIL, rosters, 5-in-5, what is the one thing that you feel you would like to shore up for the integrity of the game?

KELVIN SAMPSON: It's hard to keep up with the changes that we've made from July of 2022 to now. I think if the administrators or the powers that be could go back and ask them what they would change, I think that's a lot more relevant than asking the coaches what we would change. They're the ones that set the rules. What would you do different? I don't know. You're asking the wrong one. I didn't have anything to do with these rules. They did.

I'd like to be in the room. A committee didn't set these rules, a person did. They listened to somebody, decided that this was going to be the rules that we're going to follow.

What was the safety net? What were the guardrails to make sure that the sanctity of the game is protected? We didn't do that.

We've got a pretty good team in this league for three years. I haven't answered many questions about my team today. I've answered more questions more about stuff I have no idea what happened, how it happened, or who did it.

So stop asking the questions, asking the coaches these questions. We're reacting. Somebody else set 'em; now our job is to follow 'em. I think the coaches have done the best they could with that.

THE MODERATOR: One more question.

KELVIN SAMPSON: Is it about basketball?

THE MODERATOR: And about your team.

KELVIN SAMPSON: Great.

THE MODERATOR: How would you quantify the importance of retaining core players instead of new faces every year?

KELVIN SAMPSON: Yeah, we've had so many good teams over the last nine years or so. I think our best recruiters are our players. Like, this summer is a great example. Fabian White, J'wan Roberts, Justin Gorham, Josh Carlton, Rob Gray, Damyean Dotson, Corey Davis, Jarace Walker, Marcus Sasser. I could go down every single one of those kids based their summers and their off-season workouts out of our player development center. That's the program. A lot of schools versus good teams, but a great program, they look after each other.

There's a lot of those guys that dug this well that these kids drink out of. When these kids leave, they're going to have added volume and depth to that well so the guys behind them can drink from that well.

We have a great program. Great programs start with having high-character people. There's no way around it. The people that don't get enough credit for our success has been our staff. I walked in that gym this morning about 10 minutes after 5:00, 5:00 a.m. When I was walking in the door, I could hear Hollis Price, who was an All-American for me at the University of Oklahoma, he had his guards, it was like their hair was on fire. You guys know what I'm talking about. It was crazy how loud and enthusiastic and energetic it was.

What was it, 5:00, 5:15 or something? I look at Kellen, my son's end of the floor; he has all the bigs. They were going back and forth with their energy level. That's a program. We're not the greatest team ever. We're certainly not the greatest program ever.

There's a lot of programs in our league that's had far more success than us and done it over a longer period of time. If you look at what our program has done in our period find time, it's because we've had a great staff, high-character kids that come to Houston, that want to get better. That's a pretty good formula.

THE MODERATOR: For the record, Houston did practice this morning and then came to media days. That's how this team operates. We appreciate your time. Thank you.