# SEC TROUBLE? Houston, Fritz, & Sampson WIN as Lane Kiffin IGNITES Fire Between LSU, Texas, Ole Miss

- Channel: [Locked On Coogs](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3JPur9IK-2KJeujLsTrJ6Q)
- Published: 2026-05-13
- Source video: [Watch on YouTube](https://youtube.com/watch?v=LbdsXvxcnTc)
- Read on ReadTube: https://www.read.tube/p/videos/LbdsXvxcnTc
- Language: Original (source language)

## Summary

**Houston Bets on SEC Turmoil**

Houston can benefit as SEC schools and coaches tear at each other over race, history, and recruiting. The podcast argues that the Cougars’ own history of integration and the leadership of Kelvin Sampson and Willie Fritz make Houston a cleaner, stronger brand for recruits, donors, and fans. It also notes that Houston’s women’s golf team is surging in NCAA regional play and could reach the national championship.

The episode frames the latest SEC controversy, fueled by Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, and Mississippi officials, as a self-inflicted mess that Houston should welcome. The argument is that while those schools air out old grievances and recruiting-related accusations, Houston can point to a long record of doing things the right way, especially on integration and inclusion, and use that contrast in recruiting and fundraising. The host says the more the SEC schools expose their own problems, the easier it becomes for Houston to present itself as the better modern choice for players, families, and business partners.

Kelvin Sampson and Willie Fritz are held up as the ideal public faces of that moment. Sampson’s personal and family history ties him to civil rights and the fight for equality, while Fritz is praised for believing in quarterbacks others dismissed, including Michael Bishop, and for helping shape a culture that gave Black players real opportunities. The podcast also references other Houston leaders and examples from the school’s athletic history to argue that the program has been ahead of many southern peers on these issues for decades.

- SEC schools are portrayed as undermining themselves through public feuds and ugly historical reminders.
- Houston’s integration history is presented as a major competitive advantage in recruiting and branding.
- Sampson and Fritz are described as the best current examples of Houston’s values.
- The host urges Houston to let SEC schools keep arguing while the Cougars quietly win people over.

The show then shifts to Houston women’s golf, which is dominating NCAA regional play in Kentucky. Natalie St. Germain, Mien Kim, and Alex Sadana combined for a huge round filled with birdies, and Houston moved into the regional lead with a strong chance to finish in the top five and advance to the NCAA championship. The episode closes by celebrating the broader rise of Houston athletics while previewing more coverage of baseball, basketball, and football.

## Article

### SEC turmoil and Houston’s opening

Led by Mississippi, LSU, and Texas, the SEC is burning itself down. And the longer that goes on, the more Houston benefits.

You are locked on CS, your daily podcast on the Houston Cougars, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome to Locked On Coogs, daily podcast about your Houston Cougars. I'm your host, Houston-born teacher and coach Parker Angel, there to break down all things Houston Cougars. Your first and only host here at Locked On Coogs, breaking all things.

I want to look at, uh, we talked some about heading towards a national championship with a particular program at the end of the show. Shouts to the ladies golf team for a historic week thus far. But I want to talk about why Houston's got some leaders particularly to take advantage of a situation unfolding in the SEC. First, I want to laugh at and enjoy laughing at the situation unfolding in the SEC, and talk about frankly how it is a great thing for Houston as it's shaping up for not such a great thing for those schools.

If you aren't tuned in, living under a rock, and didn't see all the hoopla surrounding Lane Kiffin the last couple days, Lane Kiffin continues to burn places down as he leaves them. You remember when Houston played LSU back in December? The big story was he very suddenly and abruptly left Mississippi while they were in a playoff run to go be the head coach at LSU. And frankly, that shocked a lot of people. Mississippi like had to like it was who's staying, who's going, that whole thing, right?

On, uh, I believe it was Tuesday, maybe it was Monday afternoon evening. Lane Kiffin goes to Vandy Fair at first to take part, uh, in like a four-hour interview, whatever, and took some shots at Mississippi while he was in that interview. The quote that stuck out with a lot of Mississippi fans and residents, I guess, was he said that recruiting was much easier at LSU. I don't think he's wrong, but the reason he gave was about honestly race, racism, and being in a southern universe that is Mississippi. The quote was he said people told him, "Hey coach, we really like you, but my grandparents aren't letting me move to Oxford, Mississippi. Doesn't come up when you're in Baton Rouge, Louisiana."

Look, the University of Mississippi has its, you know, own Confederate history. Most southern schools of that age do. Uh, they frankly go by Miss. Their mascot was Colonel Reb for so long that you probably didn't know, as listener to the Locked On Coogs podcast, that they technically changed it to a shark in 2018. It actually had briefly been a bear before that. It's got some iconic stuff going on with the way we connect the Mississippi Rebels and the Confederacy.

We also look at, like, the state of Mississippi as a whole and look at, like, a situation that unfolded a few years back where running back at Mississippi State, Kylin Hill, led a charge to change the state flag. When, as the Mississippi State running back, he and his teammates, him leading the way, said they would not play inside the stadium if it flew that flag. The state school had to make some changes at the state level. And I don't want to act like these things don't exist in other schools or, or try to figure out if, you know, how much they exist here, don't exist there. That's not really the business I'm into in this. That's not really the point here.

I would also point out though that with him going to LSU in the first place, some of those things do exist at LSU, too. I mean, there are no tigers in Louisiana, the Louisiana State Tigers, because the Louisiana Tigers were a Confederate military regiment that's actually particularly violent and large and had like 12,000 members and was involved all the way up until the Appomattox courthouse where the war ended. Literally even involved in some putting down some riots of sorts in the later 1860s after the war ended. Again, not the big deal here.

In the SEC, LSU, Mississippi, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia were all shut down during the Civil War, though, to, you know, let their student body go fight for the Confederacy. That many students were leaving. Alabama did not shut down, actually, though. They became a military institution. Um, and look, a lot of SEC schools did not exist yet. Missouri is the only one that did exist, though, and fight on behalf of the Union. Texas A&M did not exist, but one of their first, I mean, I think it was the third or fourth college president there was a former Confederate general.

Texas got into the mix in this whole thing by Steve Sarkisian throwing pot shots at Mississippi, particularly at Golding, I think, but Mississippi, about their academics and transferring and whatever. They've had their own issues, too, right? Remember the whole fight song being tied to a minstrel song that kind of came to light at a national level a few years back. They drew a bunch of controversy there in the Tom Herman era, but it had been more closely known to home, I'm sure, for a while. It's not new news.

Look, SEC can bicker about all that stuff. They can mudsling. They can throw it out. And they are, frankly, right now, Houston, as an athletic program in the South on the rise, has a much better history in all of these regards in regards to like integration as a whole. Houston had hired African-American professors before many of these SEC schools had even integrated their student bodies.

Right. Uh, with this being a particular sports podcast, we want to stick in that lane. Or McVey was the first African-American, uh, to sign a football scholarship at a major previously all-white Southern college in Texas. He was a multi-time All-American over 3,000 all-purpose yards, including the longest play in school history on a 99-yard touchdown catch. First black player to play in an SEC stadium when Houston visited Tennessee in 1965.

Right. Bill Yman, legendary coach, obviously was, uh, having sought out moments to integrate the football team back when he showed up on campus in 1962, and McVey was the guy he thought was going to do that perfectly. McVey had like 74 scholarship offers and chose to play at Houston for Yman on purpose.

Don Cheney, Elvin Hayes, kind of the same thing in basketball. Obviously, Elvin is known for his greatness, but they also broke the color barrier on the basketball side of things for Guy Lewis, one of the first coaches, uh, at a majority white Southern college to seek out black players at all. He's pulling these guys in to play for the University of Houston.

More recently, you want to go more recently, Andre Ware is the first black quarterback to win the Heisman. He was very public that he chose Houston over bigger or more blue-blood programs because it was the one that was in a major conference that had told him they believed he could play quarterback at a time when that was not an opportunity afforded to everyone. And while Hakeem was not the first player from the continent of Africa to play

### Houston’s case in the chaos

In college basketball in the states, he was certainly one of the first ones to become a star. The laundry list could go on and on, and in Houston, sure, you can find blemishes in the résumé, too. But let the SEC blow themselves up over these issues. Let SEC schools throw gasoline on it. Laugh at them. Let these things continue. Let the coaches mudsling, the programs get involved. Let them all drag it out into the sunlight, because Houston has the résumé and the reasons to let them do that and benefit in a big, big kind of way.

Liven himself said that part of the issue of this was recruiting when he was at Oxman. He said that, and we’ll see how realistic that is with what he can do at LSU. He has done very well so far in recruiting at LSU, right? Done a very good job. If it’s really about recruiting and there’s really issues in recruiting, let them drag all of this history out into the light and let Houston’s history speak for itself while you’re recruiting those same kids and families.

How many of those SEC schools hit up the greater Houston area for the recruits? How many of those SEC schools hit the Houston area and Louisiana for those recruits? Houston’s doing that and building all those relationships. If this is really the issue they say it is, let them play it out for everyone to see and then say, “Hey, check us out actually because see all the fingerpointing, they’re all right actually. Everything they’re all saying one another is correct and we’re not that.”

Oh, and in the world of big business where money is infused in everything in college athletics, the businesses are being recruited to, right? So let them all talk about one another. Let them all keep doing that. And then when those businesses are looking for brands to tie themselves to as a, you know, rapidly improving, you know, rapidly ascending into the Power Four, winning 10 games in football last year, in NCAA championship game in basketball, heading to Natty in golf — we’ll talk about that in a second — I mean, a rapidly ascending program in athletics at Houston, talk with those businesses about, like, hey, do you want your brand associated with all of that or do you want your brand associated with all of this?

This is what people will pick every single time. You let that play itself out and trust the bright spots of your own history because you’ve done things the right way and been at the forefront of those things for a long time, you will win out because they are all telling the truth. Nothing they’re saying on one another is a lie, and they can’t say it about you either. And I think that’s a really special thing about the University of Houston, frankly, as it finds its historical footing in Southern college athletics.

### Sampson and Fritz as campus leaders

And frankly, they’ve got a pair of coaches — really a lot of coaches — but a pair that stick out on campus that do that part really, really well. It’s really exciting to talk about them and how they do that part really well. I want to get into why they’re the perfect leaders for this moment if we continue to watch the SEC burn down in just a second.

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Now, we mentioned the SEC is bringing itself down and the leadership’s doing it. Sarkeesian’s throwing the mud at Kiffin. Golding at Mississippi is throwing the mud back at them. Kiffin started this whole thing, and he will always stir up the whole thing too, right? Feels like wherever he goes, leaves it like a solid blaze behind him. And look, let them all do it, because at the University of Houston, we will continue to benefit as they burn themselves down, because that’s not the...

### Sampson’s equality and community legacy

history here. And it's also not the kind of leaders that Houston's got on campus. Houston's got leaders on campus that have very much been at the forefront and the right side of these kinds of issues for a long time. The resumes speak for themselves.

Kelvin Sampson being the most obvious, also, I guess, relative to the other people we're going to talk about in a second, the longer tenured. But Kelvin, obviously a member of the Lumbee Nation, has very specific ties personally to equality and the fight for rights and trying to get a voice or get a foot in the door places, right? I think the lesser talked about, you probably know this Cougar fan, but the lesser talked about story nationally about Kelvin is always about his father, actually, though his father was honored in Pembroke, North Carolina. I think that was earlier this year. I can't remember if that's this year or spring of 20. I think it was this year. And the Sampson family went over there to celebrate and honor him. But as great a basketball coach as Kelvin talked about his father being, he was also a legitimate fighter for civil rights. For, I guess, freedom, I should say more specifically, because Kelvin's father stood toe-to-toe in a fairly large uprising against the Ku Klux Clan in North Carolina. That shaping of Kelvin as a young person carried through with him to today.

We see him wearing all kinds of, you know, once a year the erases and the speeches he gives postgame. He talks about it so eloquently and so passionately when these things come up. He's the perfect leader to be representing your school in a lot of ways, if we're being really honest. He's a great face for the school. But as all of, I mean, Lane Kiffin is the face of LSU. I'm not sure I want him being the face of my program right now if I look at what they're doing, right? Golding and his smirk or whatever back at Kiffin after he's saying these things, that's not the face I want, face of my program. He's the face of Mississippi right now. Sarkeesian, same thing in UT Austin, right, as they continue to do these things, right? Sampson has been on the right side of these things. Sampson's big blemish is he reached out to recruits one time and that intel was going to slap on the wrist on it and so he left Indiana, right? That's the big thing. Right. This is issues that are much more serious and Sampson's much more right on much more of the time.

And frankly, you know, this year I think he had the shirt on, but they also had these shoes they auctioned off and the money went to charitable causes. But they like had custom, you know,

### Fritz, Bishop, and local impact

shoes for the city and all the anti-race kind of thing. All things across it. I actually don't think that that's probably fair description. All the different shoes, all the different things across it about, you know, for the city and for this and for that with the Lumbi Nation stickers on it or things on it. They auction his shoes off and a couple other coaches shoes off as well.

Again, he speaks eloquently annually, it feels like, about this because he brings it up whenever he can because it's something he sees as worthwhile to be on the right side of saying. Willie Fritz, while you're seeing all these other football coaches, football coach, like big and boisterous and talking about this and whatever, Willie Fritz is never out there talking all that because he's doing the things. Look much like Andre Ware in the 1980s, Fritz is coaching at Blinn. And while at Blinn in the 1990s, a young gentleman from Willis High School was looking to play quarterback, and people kept telling him he couldn't play quarterback. And Fritz said, "Hey, I think you can. I don't care why they say you can't. I see you as a great quarterback."

That young man ended up being Michael Bishop, who was only an All-American at Kansas State after going to Blinn College, second in the Heisman voting, national offensive player of the year. Incredible college resume after getting his start playing quarterback for Willie Fritz at Blinn Junior College because people didn't think even in the mid '90s he could be a college quarterback, right? And we mostly hear about the story from Bishop speaking on it more recently because Bishop was the high school coach of one five-star quarterback, Keshan Henderson, who dealt with less on the race side, more about his game side, but some of the same kind of things in his own recruitment process.

Keshan was labeled as a five-star athlete early in his high school career. And people talk about could he be a quarterback? Was he a receiver? Was he a safety? Was he a corner? And while I'm sure he'd be great at all those things, it became very apparent to Bishop when he was young that this kid needs to have the chance to play quarterback because of the same kind of issues that Bishop went through. And then by the end of his recruitment process, Keshan ends up being the number one quarterback in America per Rivals, right? That kind of transition happens. Bishop's now on staff at Houston and Keshan's now at Houston largely because of Bishop being believed then by Fritz many, many years ago before it was popular to do so, and these two leaders, Samson and Fritz, leading the way.

And look, that's to say that Carl Lewis, absolutely great guy on this kind of stuff. Matthew Mitchell, great guy. David Rar, Lydia Learia, Ben Williams, you...

### Athletics, image, and institutional values

Houston hires the right people for these things, even Nunez, right? Talking about as athletic department, the AD, it typically comes on, he comes out on a side of this that is for change and for the right and for the rights of people, and it I think is more significant because the revenue sport guys and Kelvin Sampson and Willie Fritz are also at the front end of this and representing the school in the best way possible, right?

Because look, if athletics are the front porch of the school, the biggest, most eye-catching parts of that front porch are your revenue sport programs. Houston is in a blessed place where it's two. It's both men's basketball and football. And Mitchell gets the women's program going, that may pop in there a little bit too, right? As far as revenues go. But honestly, having those two pillars as the front porch that bridge into the school, and the school's got all kinds of other stuff happening too. I mean, Couture has done a great job building the academic program as well as the athletic program. The school has had a tremendous transformation under that. That's all very, very true, right?

But when people identify colleges, most people identify them through sports first. Most people identify them through football, maybe basketball, maybe both first. When it comes to Houston, they identify with both. And these are the two kinds of men you want to be identified with your program, especially with all of that nonsense happening directly to your east. I guess technically Austin is to your, Austin and College Station to your west. Okay. Directly in your surroundings, right? Because again, when people identify your program as recruits, as businesses, as companies, as sponsors, they want to see how you stand on these kinds of things.

And if they're going to sling that mud and drag all that stuff out on their ends, let them. I'll say it again. I'll say it all day long. Let them. They're not lying. Everything they're saying is true. And look at us, right? This is a moment for Houston to really let that thing burn itself to the ground. I'm not saying that there'll be a major dent happening to LSU athletics or Mississippi athletics or Texas athletics. Sure, I'm not saying there's some big reckoning coming to all those schools, right? I am saying though that there will be people these things matter to, and those are now quickly, if you play this right, becoming your people, and that feels important as you're growing as an athletic department. That feels really, really important.

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#### The Cougars in Csonville

Locked On Coogs here. I promise I can read. But anyway, look, the women’s golf program is going into one of the biggest days of school history, certainly for that department, for that program. We’ve got to talk about what’s happening in Csonville, Kentucky, because the University of Houston women’s golf team is putting up a clinic in the NCAA regional.

Yesterday we saw them set the school record for the opening round, and then on two—I guess two days ago because then on Tuesday they went even deeper—a 13-under-par 275 as a team. To put that in perspective, that’s the lowest round the program has ever produced in the postseason. They’re leading the regional right now. The top five get to go to the national, right? So they feel pretty well set. They’re also in the same regional as Auburn, Arkansas, Iowa State, and other top 20 teams.

The story of the day became Natalie St. Germaine, Min Kim, and Alex Sadana because they were leading it on. They’re talking about being really locked in, right? **16 birdies and just one bogey** between those three performers. Look, I don’t normally talk about golf, but when a trio hits 16 birdies and just one bogey in a single day of golf, that is a lot to enjoy and talk about, frankly, to represent the Houston Cougars in the best way possible.

Again, they currently lead the regional going to the third and final day of the regional on Wednesday, and the top five get to go on to the NCAA national championships. This is the same region that has other top 20 teams, and Houston’s taking control of it.

If you’re looking to watch this, all three leaders will tee off sometime between 7:00 and 7:45, evenly spaced out. Kind of depends on how things progress or whatever, right? Between 7:45 Central time. The social media crew on the women’s golf team has been great about keeping stats updated, too. They’re sending out the links to watch it if you want to watch it. Again, now that St. Germaine, Min Kim, and Alex Sadana are killing this thing, it is worth watching.

St. Germaine, for instance, opened up the second day of the regional by birdying five of the first six holes. Add that up: the second-lowest round in Houston Cougar regional history for an individual. Big, big deal.

#### Building a stronger department

When we talk about the ascending, growing Houston Cougar athletic department, it is not just 10-win football seasons, five-star recruits, quarterbacks. Not just that. That’s revenue. That’s sexy. I get it. That’s big, eye-popping, national-audience stuff, etc. It’s not just the men’s basketball program either. That’s a top-10 team perennially, looking to get into another Final Four, two Final Fours in the last five years. All national championship parents. It’s not just that either, though. It’s not just where your top dogs are.

A truly strong athletic department will also have teams like this women’s golf team. The men’s golf team are also in their regional. We’ll talk about them when, if they have nearly as good a round as this, we’ll probably talk about that as well. But it’s about having all of your sports—spring, winter, fall, all of it—working together. We know the track team is strong. We talk about them when big things happen, big PRs happen. We also have talked about baseball and change coaches, talked about how well the women’s basketball team has done in recruiting and how great their roster is put together. I know I have an all-access episode out for folks on that one, too. It’s a really, really impressive turnaround they’re building. Frankly, if you want to talk about the women’s basketball team, comment down below. We’ll see. I mean, it’s been an impressive offseason. We may get a full episode. That’s a really, really good performance out of Mitchell and the gang.

But when we look at this women’s golf team, after the tremendous performance at the Big 12 championship tournament—outside of Dallas, I think that was—you saw they led going to the final day and had a really close final day with Iowa State before ultimately falling there. They are now leading this regional that has Iowa State in it. And for what it’s worth, knock on wood, I don’t see them falling out of the top five. That ultimately gets to go to the NCAA championships. We’ll be following along as we go. I hope I didn’t just jinx them, but I’m excited for them to be representing Houston in the best way.

You know what? Talking about golf, I need my trusty golfing cougar hat. Thanks to Section 12X Hat, right? That’s a great hat. Now look, I think that’s probably where we’ll leave it for now. I don’t want to talk about things too big as we get too big, but cheering them on from afar—not obviously they’re in Kentucky, but cheering them on from afar as they make their way to the NCAA’s. We’ll be breaking that down. We have

### Season updates and closing notes

Eventually a baseball coach. They had a big win, I should point out, a big win on Tuesday over Rice. I still think that changing coach at the end of the season, so we'll talk about that change whenever it happens. But congrats to the big win over Rice.

Talk about women's basketball at some point. I think if you comment down below, I may get that out very soon. We got men's basketball off season with the guys in the NBA combine. Football's got a big year coming with big things on the horizon. All kinds of stuff happening with the Houston Cougars, so hit subscribe and hit the bell so you know when things go live.

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