A four-year starter at wide receiver for Baylor from 2009-12, Lanear Sampson joins the McNeese coaching staff in 2019 and will handle the duties of coaching the outside wide receivers.
Prior to McNeese, Sampson spent three seasons on staff at Syracuse, two as a graduate assistant and the most recent as a quality control coach where he worked on the offensive side.
Sampson played three years for Dino Babers when Babers was Baylor’s wide receivers coach and was a member of a senior class that turned around the Baylor program, helping the Bears reach three consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history. Baylor appeared in the 2010 Texas Bowl and recorded back-to-back wins against Washington in the 2011 Alamo Bowl and UCLA in the 2012 Holiday Bowl with Sampson on the roster.
Sampson finished his career fifth on Baylor’s all-time receptions list (165) and 10th in career receiving yardage (1,905). He caught a pass in 43 straight games from 2010-12 and earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors as a senior. Sampson had 52 receptions for 646 yards and six touchdowns in his final campaign to earn a spot in the 2013 Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Game.
Following his college career, Sampson spent time in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2015, he signed with the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League.
A two-time Academic All-Big 12 selection, Sampson graduated from Baylor in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication. He earned his master’s degree in instructional design, development and evaluation from Syracuse University’s School of Education in 2018.