Bill Self says KU AD search still in ‘preliminary’ stages

By Matt Tait     May 29, 2018

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Kansas head coach Bill Self shows his frustration with his team after a string of Kansas State buckets during the second half, Friday, March 9, 2018 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self has had “preliminary” conversations about the university’s open athletic director job in the eight days [since KU chancellor Doug Girod announced that Sheahon Zenger had been fired.][1]

But Self classified the entire process of finding Zenger’s replacement as still in its infant stages and added that he did not anticipate being a huge part of the search.

“I don’t know that I’ll be able to be involved very much just because I’m going to be gone,” said Self, [who will head to Colorado Springs on Wednesday to begin a two-week stint with USA Basketball.][2]

Despite being away from campus until mid-June, Self said he would remain available and added that he hoped to receive updates on how the search was going during that time.

“I think there’ll be probably a lot of movement on it as far as some preliminary work and that kind of stuff during the time I’m not around,” said Self, who revealed that he was not a part of the search committee. “But I’ll do anything that the chancellor asks of me and I do hope that I’m somewhat in the know on what’s going on.”

To this point, Self said his discussions about the job have been very basic and have covered more of the big picture issues rather than diving in on specific candidates.

“It’s still early,” he said. “And the conversations that I’ve had (have been) more of what kind of person, why type of strengths, those types of things, will be best for our school. As far as names and things like that, no. I don’t believe there’s been near as much discussion on that as what some people would think. But I’m sure it’s going to get hot and heavy soon.”

Asked what traits he had discussed that might make KU’s next athletic director the right fit for the department, Self chose to keep the details private.

“I really don’t want to go into it from that standpoint,” he said. “Obviously, we hope we hire the best person we possibly can for the circumstances at KU and some of the things that need to be done here. But I’d rather let our chancellor or the committee speak to that point rather than a guy that’s not as directly involved with it.”

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2018/may/21/chancellor-girod-fires-ku-atheletics-director-shea/
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2018/may/29/kansas-coach-bill-self-ready-to-depart-f/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.