It has been an up-and-down season so far for UCLA Basketball. On Saturday, the Bruins experienced another down, as UCLA lost by 30-points to Michigan, and head coach Mick Cronin was critical of his players after the game.
Losing the game and ripping his players was not the only thing Cronin did on Saturday; he also took some time to troll another coach, Kelvin Sampson, according to Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68.
“Mick Cronin had the best line,” Sampson told Goodman in an interview. “He Venmos me a dollar … (and) he said, ‘Yo, man, I heard your shtick — (at) postgame press conferences, you gotta learn not to say certain things. But I did get that you don’t have very much, so here’s a dollar.’”
This comes after Sampson griped about his budget back on Feb. 4 in a postgame press conference after defeating UCF.
“We have a very poor athletic department. We’re poor,” Sampson said. “We were poor when I got here, and we’re still poor.”
Houston's athletic department has the lowest budget among power conference schools, spending just $99 million on athletics in the 2025 fiscal year, according to Justin Williams of The Athletic.
For comparison, other major programs, such as Texas, Michigan, and Ohio State, spend over $200 million a year. Houston should see their budget increase this year, as it will be getting a full revenue share from the Big 12 for the first time. Still, Samson also understands the implications of their budgetary restraints.
“Teams that have the best recruiting classes usually have the most money,” Sampson said. “That’s the way it is today. It’s not about who we want to sign. It’s, ‘Who can we afford to sign?’”
Sampson may have a limited budget, but Houston is 23-3 on the season. Meanwhile, UCLA and Houston will not meet on the court this regular season, but they could be clashing on the recruiting trail, both having interest in 2026 recruit Christian Collins. Maybe that extra dollar from Cronin will be the difference for Sampson to get the signature.
