Saying it’s been “a whirlwind” experience, former University of Illinois coach Bill Self spoke for the first time to the media Monday afternoon as Kansas University’s eighth men’s basketball coach.
Self was introduced by KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway, who presented Self with a folding “head coach’s chair,” telling Self, “I know that you’ve dreamed of the head coach’s chair at Kansas ever since you first coached at Allen Fieldhouse. So today’s a day for dreams to come true. Here’s the head coach’s chair. We’d be pretty glad if you just kept it the next 25 years or so.”
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Are you happy with Bill Self as the new KU men’s basketball coach?
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After joking that the seat “already feels very hot,” Self praised the KU coaching position a few minutes later, calling it “the most prestigious chair in all of college basketball.”
“I can’t tell you enough that I am thrilled to be the basketball coach at the University of Kansas.”
Self left no opening when it came to the chance he may return to coach at his alma mater, Oklahoma State University, when Cowboys head coach Eddie Sutton retires.
“This is a career-ending job. I love Oklahoma State,” Self said. “. . . . My future is not in Stillwater (Okla.). My future is in Lawrence.”
“It’s a once-in-a lifetime job,” said Self, who signed a five-year deal with KU.
It was a question on the minds of many Kansas fans still smarting from last week’s announcement that Roy Williams was departing from KU after 15 years as head coach to return to his own alma mater, North Carolina.
Self’s move was similar, leaving the Illini behind just six days after the team’s post-season banquet and upsetting players, fans and administrators.
“I stand before you with mixed emotions,” Self said. “Nobody picks the timing. And certainly, I didn’t pick this. … It was a difficult decision to leave… . It was difficult because I’m leaving behind an unbelievably good situation. I’m leaving behind a great fan base, a great administration, great young players that were basically committed to the cause and did everything they possibly could do to prop me up and make me look good.
“It always pulls on your emotional strings to walk away from people who have been good to you.”
Some Jayhawks said they felt for Self’s former players, who had to experience what the KU players went through during Williams’ departure.
“I couldn’t help but think about what it was like watching coach Williams’ press conference when coach Self was up there talking and think about the Illinois players” sophomore forward Wayne Simien said. “It’s tough to think about them in the same situation we were in last week. But it’s a tough situation and you’ve just got to realize it’s more of a business up here now.”
Fellow sophomore Aaron Miles echoed his teammate.
“Sometimes, you got to do what’s best for your family,” the point guard said. “Feelings are going to get hurt … whatever you do.
“I’m sure the Illinois players are hurting, and I feel for them because I know what they’re going through.”
After days of speculation on when the job was offered and how often Self had talked to KU administrators, the new coach cleared up the issue by saying he had talked to interim athletic director Drue Jennings for about 10 minutes Wednesday and to Hemenway for about five minutes Thursday while on a family vacation in Florida.
Self and his family returned to Illinois Friday to be somewhere they felt comfortable making such an important decision, and after going back and forth about the job Saturday he decided that night to accept the position.
“It was a career-ending decision,” he said, “based on our family, for the betterment of it.”
Replacing Williams’ class and dignity will be a touch job, Self said, but not a new one.
“Larry Brown was a tough act to follow. Ted Owens went to two Final Fours and was a tough act to follow,” Self said. “Phog Allen was a very tough act to follow. And the guy who started it all is the toughest act of all to follow — Dr. Naismith.”
During opening remarks, Hemenway said the search committee spoke to some outstanding coaches, but focused on one man — Self.
“We knew his record. We knew his reputation for integrity. And we knew of his strong respect for KU and all that it stands for, both as an academic institution and as a basketball power,” Hemenway said. “It soon became clear that the interest was mutual. And on that basis, we were able to act promptly and decisively to bring to KU the coach that we wanted.”
KU players said they also were happy with the coach and relieved that the search was over.
“We truly appreciate him coming in here, leaving such a good thing at Illinois and we’re ready to work for him and he’s ready to work for us,” Simien said.
Keith Langford said it was almost like a homecoming to now play for Self, who had recruited Langford when the forward was a junior in high school.
“It worked out for the better,” Langford said. “Some of the kids get torn between schools and coaches and things like that, but I got to play for two coaches that I could build a relationship to.”
Self’s wife, Cindy, children, Lauren and Tyler, and assistant coach Norm Roberts joined the new KU coach at the news conference.
Self said Roberts, who would be the associate head coach, and assistant coach Tim Jankovich would follow him from Illinois to Kansas, and that a decision on a third assistant would come shortly.
“In this business you don’t always get to pick and choose your situations,” Roberts said, “and I’ve been very, very fortunate to be with a good guy — a guy that allows me to work, a guy that respects hard work, a guy that respects family. There’s not a lot of guys like that in the business, so when you can get with a guy like that you need to stay with them as long as you can and learn and get better.”
Roberts’ older brother Kenny was a student assistant under Ted Owens during the late 1970s, helping the team during the season and during basketball camps, to which he brought Norm and their brother Martin.
Self said he would consider giving KU’s fifth and final scholarship for next year to someone he felt could help the team, but he did not mention if that might be Charlie Villanueva.
A 6-foot-9, 215 pound high school senior, Villanueva verbally committed to Illinois but has yet to sign a letter of intent as he mulls over entering this summer’s NBA draft.
After KU filed a complaint with UNC last week because of possible tampering with recruits by Williams, going after Villanueva could be a touchy subject for the Jayhawks. But Jennings said he wasn’t worried if Self urged the forward to join the team as Villanueva was not bound to Illinois.
“Legally, and by NCAA rules, morally and ethically, that’s OK,” Jennings said. “I have no problems with that. That’s the coach’s call.”
Hemenway thanked A. Drue Jennings, interim athletic director, Richard Konzem, associate athletic director, and Doug Vance, assistant athletic director, for joining him on the search committee.