Kansas City, Mo ? Bill Self regrets that his University of Illinois basketball program committed 20 minor, or secondary, violations during his three years as Illini coach.
At the same time, the new Kansas University coach said he was not the only coach in the country who committed minor infractions — defined as ones that didn’t give his school a recruiting or competitive advantage — during the same span.
“Everybody commits secondary violations. Everybody,” Self said Monday at the Great Plains Associated Press Sports Editors meeting. “I will say this, if you are not turning yourself in for secondary violations, your compliance program is not doing a very good job. If they’re reported, it shows you’re on top of your business.”
Self pointed out that six of the 20 violations reported Sunday in a St. Louis Post Dispatch article were made by Illinois employees from outside the basketball office. Those violations included things like submitting equipment out of season and publicizing two incoming freshmen who had qualified for a U.S.A. basketball team.
Violations in his office included “failing to fill out a piece of paper before speaking at a clinic” and appearing on too many radio shows at the state high school tournament.
Of the 14 violations that involved recruiting …
“There were five or six you’d say, ‘No way you can do that,'” Self said. “If you bump into a kid (prospect) and say more than hello, that’s a no-no. Sometimes those are relatively unavoidable, but by the letter of the law they are not right.
“Some of them you might not even know is a violation. Everybody’s got those, but not all of ’em are in the paper,” he said, laughing.
“I guess it’s a coach’s responsibility or assistant coach’s responsibility to know everything,” Self said.
“The NCAA rulebook? My gosh you could memorize the NCAA rulebook and come back and take a test the next year and make 80 percent on it because the rules have changed in so many areas.
“You hear all the bad stuff about NCAA rules compliance but basically who’s getting nailed. There’s not very many people getting nailed. Michigan is getting nailed over $600,000-plus dollars. There’s not too many schools out there not taking care of their business and doing it right.”
Self said he always would attempt to work by the rules.
“The situation at Illinois, to be honest, I’m kind of proud. They have four full-time compliance people working 32-plus-hour weeks just handling compliance. I told the writer (of Post-Dispatch article), ‘I’m not embarrassed by this. We watch game tape after every game to try to get better. This is the way you monitor yourself as a way to get better.'”
Self said the more compliance officers, the merrier.
“You can’t legislate integrity, but you can legislate doing it the right way,” Self said. “As important as it is to the institutions, I don’t think they can spend too much money on helping their coaches and athletes stay compliant in every possible facet.”
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Facelift: KU’s basketball offices are being remodeled this month because the coaches are out of town for 20 days recruiting.
“They are not knocking down any walls, but are doing a lot to it — carpeting, paint, setting up an editing room, a lot of different things,” Self said.
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Manning update: Self said he had talked to former KU All-American Danny Manning about joining the program as a graduate assistant.
“I’ve talked to several people, but Danny and I have had serious talks about the situation,” Self said. “At this time, Danny is still exploring some possible professional opportunities that, if they materialize, he may not be available. If they don’t, I know where his heart is and what he wants to do.”
There is a chance Manning could play a 16th season in the NBA or join an NBA team as a coach.
“The way it’s been explained to me is there will be a lot of great shakeup with teams and staff over the next couple of months he is exploring,” Self said. “But I know this. If that doesn’t materialize, I know he’d like to do what he can to help his alma mater.”
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Net rumors bother coach: Like his KU predecessor, Roy Williams, Self is not a big fan of many aspects of the Internet.
“The Internet, from a college coach’s perspective, has made it where the job isn’t quite as enjoyable,” Self said. “I’m not talking about recruiting or any specific things, but the Internet puts you on the defensive. You are always trying to defend what you are doing or who you are. That can be a lot of things. The Internet will say we offered scholarships to this kid or that kid when, in all honesty, we haven’t. Whether we like it or not, players read the Internet. Whether we like it or not, recruits read the Internet. So you are always in a defensive mode in what you are doing with that kind of stuff.
“I try to have a relationship with all recruits. I say, ‘If you hear it from me, it’s true. If I hear it from you, it’s true. If we hear it from anybody else, it’s like it didn’t happen.’ There’s a lot of great information on the Internet,” Self said, “but also a lot of misinformation.”