Texas Southern coach recalls how Kansas Jayhawks’ Bill Self turned down a job he held
Texas Southern men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones, who says he has known Hall of Famer Bill Self “for a long time,” isn’t the only person in his family who considers Kansas’ coach a “special individual.”
“My wife actually loves him probably more than me and has probably only met him a couple times just because of the type of person he is,” Jones, the Tigers’ fourth-year head coach said Wednesday, referring to his wife, Kelli.
The reason for the mutual admiration?
Jones, who played for the 1981 LSU Tigers Final Four team, was interim head coach at Memphis during the 1999-2000 season. It seems during that season — one in which Jones led the Tigers to a 15-16 record — Memphis officials were making some inquiries about then-Tulsa coach Self possibly becoming the Memphis Tigers’ coach in 2000-01.
“I think Memphis was reaching out to him during our season. And he told them at the time that he wasn’t interested in talking to them because they already had a coach in place right now and didn’t feel comfortable talking about it during the season,” Jones said Wednesday during his media availability at Dickies Arena. Jones’ media session was held in advance of Thursday’s first-round NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional contest between No. 1-seeded KU and No. 16-seed Texas Southern (8:57 p.m. on truTV).
“So they (Memphis officials) went back after him,” Jones added in continuing the story. “And I think they rubbed him the wrong way and he told them he wasn’t interested now and he won’t be interested in the future if that’s the way they conducted business. And after my wife heard that, she became his biggest fan. But he’s always been great. We always watched his teams and programs.”
Jones, 60, and Self, 59, spoke during the 2021-22 nonconference season.
“It’s crazy. I’m not sure if he shared this with you, we actually talked in December because of the cancellation of some basketball games,” Jones said. “We lost a game against Cincinnati (because of COVID-19). They had lost a game, as well (to Colorado). And I think he called me up — it may have been on a Thursday night and I waited until the next morning, I think, to call him — and they had rescheduled the game (with George Mason). And that’s what he was calling about, to schedule. So I’m glad he found another opponent in December. I was happy for him. But we are really good friends and have certainly admired him for a long time.”
Self on Wednesday said of Jones: “Great guy, great coach.”
Jones pointed out the two pals have coached against each other just one time, when he coached at North Texas from 2001-12. KU won 93-60 on Nov. 19, 2010 at Allen Fieldhouse.
As far as Thursday’s game … Texas Southern of the SWAC enters at 19-12; KU 28-6.
“(It’s) just one of Bill Self’s teams, which is motioning and the way they can get up the floor, the spacing that they utilize, guys playing off of each other,” Jones said in describing the Jayhawks.
“They have excellent shooters. And he’s one of the best in the business in putting guys in the spots where they’re going to excel. Shooters get to their spots. His drivers get to the lanes because of the angles and screens that they set. His rebounders rebound. And his post guys understand their position in the post and they do a lot of high percentage things there on the offensive end of the floor.
“But it’s just I think a traditional Bill Self type team in that he takes his guys, takes his pieces and puts them in the right spot,” added Jones, who also has been a head coach at his alma mater LSU, from 2013-17.
Jones said he’s watched KU on TV several times this season.
“He’s one of the teams that I have to tell you that I enjoy watching the style of play and the way they get after it,” Jones said of Self’s Jayhawks. “And being the head coach at the University of North Texas for a long time and in the Big 12 watching a lot of their games, so familiar with that. And being in the SEC I think I had a chance to watch a little bit of their challenge, as well, with Kentucky. And I think that was at Kansas. So, yeah, following them a little bit this year when I could.”
