Bill Self asked about future as Kansas Jayhawks coach: ‘I plan on being around a while’
Just three weeks after Jay Wright announced plans to step down as men’s basketball coach at Villanova, Bill Self was asked Tuesday by an ESPN radio crew in New York City if he had any “surprise announcement” regarding his own future.
“No ... I plan on being around a while. I think at the end of the month, I was still employed,” Self, who just completed his 19th season at Kansas, said with a laugh. He was an in-person guest on a morning sports talk show featuring hosts Keyshawn Johnson, Jay Williams and Max Kellerman, broadcast from ESPN Studios at Pier 17.
“I don’t know how much longer I’ll do it,” added the 59-year-old Self, who was in the Big Apple to receive the Winged Foot Award, as presented by the New York Athletic Club to the head coach of the NCAA men’s and women’s championship teams.
“As you guys have talked about it probably many times, our game is changing and it’s changing in a big way. Certainly right now there’s so much uncertainty in our game. One thing is certain, though, it’s still coaching basketball,” added Self, who just completed his 29th year in college coaching.
This led to a followup question from the ESPN trio regarding two burning issues in college sports facing all head coaches: name, image and likeness as well as the transfer portal.
“I don’t know that I have anything figured out now,” said Self. His Jayhawks defeated North Carolina, 72-69, on April 4 in New Orleans for Self’s second national title at KU. He’s the only active coach with two NCAA titles. Iona’s Rick Pitino (Louisville, Kentucky) has won two NCAA titles, however one was taken away because of NCAA sanctions. Wright had won two at Villanova.
“I think it’s so inexact right now that nobody knows what it (college sports) is going to look like a year from now or two years from now. The appearance is that it’s out of control and I totally agree with that. I don’t know how to put the genie back in the bottle though. I know the NCAA came up with some stuff yesterday to try to monitor some things where it reduces the opportunities for recruiting incentives or inducements, but I don’t know how you do this moving forward,” Self said.
The NCAA issued some guidelines regarding NIL, concerning the involvement of boosters in recruiting, on Monday.
“The portal in theory, freedom of movement, that’s great,” Self stated of the transfer portal, which lets players switch schools with immediate eligibility intact.
“(But) there’s so many unintended consequences that have come with the portal and now with NIL being so real and prevalent it’s a different look than what I think everybody anticipated it being. I think the uncertainty of today leads for everyone being uncomfortable. But we’ll get through it. Our game will survive. College athletics will survive in some way shape or form and certainly we won’t be talking about this the same way two years from now as we’re talking about this now.”
Self said on the ESPN show it’s been a whirlwind since KU won the 2022 crown.
“It’s been pretty good. We’ve been on a cloud floating around. We’re coming off it now,” Self said. “We had an opportunity to bring our staff up here for the Winged Foot Awards tonight (in Manhattan). We’re still floating.”
Self said of his second title ... “I think this meant actually a little more than 2008 (when he won his first national title at KU). Winning it is fabulous. It’s unbelievable to win it but to win it where maybe there were some things outside the basketball, my father passing just a little bit earlier, some things like that I think made this one even more special if that’s possible.
“Winning it any time is the most unbelievable feeling. I will say the wins never feel as good as the losses feel bad, never, until that one win and that one win (NCAA title victory) makes it feel better than all the losses combined. There’s a lot of heartache to get there, but certainly it was worth it.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 10:23 AM.
