Courington began serving as a volunteer tennis coach at Howard Payne University in the spring of 2021. Favorite Bible Verse: Psalms 127:1 "Except the LORD build the house, the labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman wake but in vain." 

Courington served as the tennis pro at Holly Lake Ranch near Tyler. Sammie coached at Corpus Christi W. B. Ray from 1977 to 1980. He coached at Brownwood High School and Middle school from 1980 to 2003 and at Round Rock Stony Point from 2003 to 2005. After that, he coached at Pflugerville Hendrickson from 2005 to 2009. He then returned to Brownwood as an assistant tennis coach in 2011. After that, he retired from Brownwood High school/ Middle School. He was honored by the Texas Tennis Coaches Association in 1992 as the AAAA Coach of the Year and in 1994 as the Texas State Junior High Coach of the year.

He was a four-year letterman in Tennis at Hardin-Simmons University, was named the Hardin-Simmons University Tennis MVP in 1974 and 1975. In addition, he was listed in Who's who among America's College Athletes. He graduated from the University of Texas at Tyler in December 1977. He earned his Master's degree in physical education from Hardin-Simmons University in August 1989.  In 2005 he was inducted into the Hardin-Simmons University Athletic Hall of Fame.

As of August 24, 2021, Courington is currently ranked #1 in the United States in the 55 and older NTRP 4.0 Men's Singles.

Courington has been married to his wife Leslie for 43 years. They have no biological children, but regarding the Tennis players, "they are all my children."