KU basketball has top-4 college coaching job ... but not No. 1: Athletic survey
Kansas fans and the college basketball world spent the last two weeks waiting on coach Bill Self’s announcement regarding next season.
Self, who was considering stepping down due to health reasons, instead announced Wednesday evening he’s returning for a 24th season coaching the Jayhawks.
But at some point, the Jayhawks will — eventually — need to make a coaching hire, which begs the question: How good is the KU job?
Well, The Athletic recently polled 51 coaches — both assistants and head coaches — on what they deem the best job in college basketball. The KU job ranked fourth — we’ll get to that specific number in a moment — but landed safely in the top 4 with No. 1 Duke and tied-No. 2 UNC and Kentucky.
An important caveat: Kansas actually received five first-place votes, more than Kentucky’s three. UNC also received five first-place votes.
Kansas received a top-5 ranking from 46 of 51 coaches surveyed.
Duke, the overwhelming pick at No. 1, received 37 first-place votes.
In fact, Kansas (142) was one voting point shy of tying Kentucky and UNC (143 each). Meaning the consensus appears to be that Duke (233 points) is the best job in the sport, followed by a fairly even split between the three other blue bloods.
“I’ve coached at Kentucky. I’ve coached at Pauley Pavilion. I’ve coached at Duke. There’s a difference,” one high-major head coach said of KU to The Athletic. “Walking in the Phog Allen Fieldhouse, it’s just different, especially if they respect you. If you’re not very good, you’re gonna get killed anyway, but it’s not as overwhelming.”
UConn ranked No. 5 at 33 voting points, with no first-place votes.
Here are the top-10 jobs in the sport, according to The Athletic survey:
Athletic survey: Best college basketball coaching jobs
1. Duke — 233 (37 first-place votes)
Tied-2. UNC — 143 (5)
Tied-2. Kentucky — 143 (3)
4. KU — 142 (5)
5. UConn — 33
6. Arizona — 28
7. Michigan — 12
Tied-8. Florida — 8
Tied-8. Texas — 8 (1)
10. UCLA — 5
This story was originally published April 1, 2026 at 12:07 PM.
