“Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you”
The Police’s 1983 hit song, “Every Breath You Take,” wasn’t written with major-college football and basketball coaches in mind.
But it sure could have been.
The eyes of the public, seemingly 24 hours a day in true college towns, follow coaches on and off the court, as Iowa State’s Larry Eustachy and Alabama’s Mike Price learned the hard way the past two weeks — the two coaches losing their jobs because of their after-work-hours behavior.
“Obviously, when you are in the public eye and represent something much bigger than yourself and your family … when you are talking about an institution and a state … when people pay you the amount of money they pay you, obviously you have to be very aware of the ramifications if things don’t go the way they should as far as issues outside the playing arena,” new Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self said Monday.
He now has been plopped into the fishbowl known as Lawrence, taking over for new North Carolina coach Roy Williams, whose every move was closely monitored here the past 15 years.
Self is used to being under the microscope, having coached at the University of Illinois in a college town similar to Lawrence — Champaign, Ill. — the last three years.
He easily has survived the scrutiny.
Self’s a reputable family man, who says he no real hobbies except “spending time with my family” — wife Cindy, daughter, Lauren (10), and son, Tyler (8).
“A huge part of recruiting is reputation and being able to sell families on yourself,” said the 40-year-old Self, also known as an energetic recruiter.
He has mixed emotions on the subject of “second chances” for coaches who err in judgment.
“Without talking specifics, I do believe people make mistakes, and the magnitude of the mistakes varies,” Self said. “I think second chances are true. I’ve had numerous second chances, and you probably have, too.
“I think (there are) some things you cannot overcome. Things that certainly could hurt so many people in the long term, that could hurt an institution … I think you have to make business decisions of what’s best for your university.
“There have been so many black eyes in college athletics the last eight months, a lot of them in (college) basketball,” Self said.
Academic fraud cases surfaced in recent months at Fresno State, Georgia Tech and St. Bonaventure.
“It’s very, very unfortunate,” Self said.
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Self’s busy slate: Things haven’t slowed down for Self, despite the fact the current recruiting evaluation period ended May 1 .
On Monday, KU’s coach appeared as a guest on Jim Rome’s national radio show on the two-week anniversary of Self’s hiring.
“No, no, we’ve not finally settled in,” Self told Rome, “but it is good recruiting is over. You can get in your office and try to clean out the desk a little bit. It’s been a wild two weeks for sure.”
The Journal-World chronicled some of Self’s recent recruiting adventures in a story last week, overlooking one trip — Self headed to the East Coast to pursue 6-2 Amityville (N.Y.) High junior A.J. Price, who averaged 25.4 points, seven rebounds and five assists a game last season while hitting a school-record 63 three-pointers.
Price told analyst Shay Wildeboor of rivals.com that Price had been offered scholarships by KU, UConn, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Texas and Villanova. He said he will visit KU next fall.
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Brilliant Brett: KU senior Brett Olson of Chanute will graduate May 18 with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. Olson not only played for KU’s team this past season, but also held down a full-time internship in the applied physiology lab, which focuses on physiological processes involved in exercise, heart failure and aging.
KU’s health, sport and exercise science department recently awarded Olson its Jack Wolf Award, given to the outstanding senior male undergraduate student in the department.
Olson, who hopes to attend medical school, will return to KU’s team next season, continuing in grad school and working in the lab as a grad research assistant.
“I can’t wait to get going again,” Olson told KU University Relations.
“We have a good shot next year.”
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Tour stop added: KU seniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich have added a game to their Barnstorming Tour. The seniors and three former Jayhawks will play an exhibition game at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Blue Valley West High School. An autograph session starts at 6 p.m.
