Bill Self put to test by young Olathe campers

By Gary Bedore     Aug 2, 2015

Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self answers questions Monday after practice. Self said his Jayhawks are learning to adapt to international rules in preparation for representing the United States in the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea.

? Bill Self faced a firing squad in the form of 200 or so basketball campers who grilled Kansas University’s coach with an assortment of personal questions Sunday morning at Olathe South High.

How old are you?

“Thirty-nine,” the coach said with a smile before adding, “Fifty-two. Old.”

Is your house big?

“I have no idea. It’s a normal house.”

Are you rich?

“I’ve would like to say I’m rich this way: I’ve got a great family. My family is healthy. We have a lot of love in our house. I’d say pretty rich.”

How long have you been a coach?

“This is my 30th year of coaching — 23 years as a head coach.”

Yes, believe it or not, Self this season begins Year No. 30 in college coaching.

“I hope it’s memorable in a good way,” said Self, who is beginning his 13th season as head coach at KU. “I’ve had some memorable years in bad ways, too. Hopefully it’s a very memorable year. The fact we got off to a good start in South Korea (winning gold medal at World University Games), I think, gives everybody a little bit of confidence moving forward.”

Self’s first job was as a grad assistant at KU in the 1985-86 Final Four season.

“I fell in love with the place. I thought it was the best place in the world to coach, and it is,” Self said of KU, where he has compiled a 352-78 record with one national title, two Final Fours and 11 Big 12 regular-season crowns in his first 12 campaigns.

His first actual job with a livable salary was at Oklahoma State in 1986-87.

“I was 23 years old. The way I got the job is, I promised the head coach (Leonard Hamilton) the best player on campus would come out and play and walk-on. He happened to be my best friend (Jay Davis). The only way I could get a job was promise he’d come out. When you are coaching somebody you used to go on double-dates with and hang out with, it’s a little different when you tell him what to do, and he tells you to go fly a kite.”

Self coached at OSU until 1993, when he became head coach at Oral Roberts. Overall at stops at ORU, Tulsa, Illinois and KU, he has a record of 559-183. Out of 18 possible conference crowns, his teams have won 15, with two seconds and a third. ORU was not in a conference in his four seasons at the Tulsa school.

Of this year’s KU team, he said: “I think my first impression is, they really like each other. It sounds like coach-speak, but it’s true. I don’t know if we’ve ever had a team bond any better than what we did over in Korea, how unselfish we were with our thoughts and also our play. We didn’t have four of probably our top eight, nine guys with us (Brannen Greene, Devonté Graham, Cheick Diallo, Svi Mykhailiuk), so it’s going to be a fun team. I think practices will be competitive. Truth of the matter is, we need Perry (Ellis), Wayne (Selden Jr.), Frank (Mason III) to play like all-league players, which I know they all are.”

On Hemenway: Self on the death of former KU chancellor Robert Hemenway.

“Chancellor Hemenway, obviously, was unbelievable to me. He hired me. He was very supportive of athletics,” Self said. “People here may not realize it … he was probably the most powerful chancellor or president in the entire NCAA body of presidents because he chaired the executive committee, which is a very powerful committee. I loved the chancellor. He was great to us. He was certainly great to me. It’s sad we lost him. I know he’d been struggling in his recent life with his health. Hopefully his family and everybody are doing as well as they possibly can.”

No Embiid: Last year, Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves was Self’s guest at his ProCamp event in Olathe. This year, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers was ticketed to be the guest, but recent injury problems prevented the 7-footer from attending.

“I’d say the best two players I ever coached at KU were Joel and Andrew,” Self said in response to a camper’s question. “The best college player we’ve had since I’ve been at Kansas was a guy who played probably before you were born. That’d be Wayne Simien … other than Jeff Graves,” he added with a smile, referring to the ex-Jayhawk big man from KC who was working the camp.

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