Bill Self grabs a putter resting against a wall in his plush Kansas University men’s basketball office, plops a golf ball onto the carpet and strokes the sphere past a black leather couch into an adjacent bathroom.
He’s relaxed, totally at ease chit-chatting about barbecue and the baseball playoffs while preparing for a KUSports.com chat session with Jayhawk fans who have submitted questions from 16 states, as well as Korea, Paraguay, Mexico, Canada and Japan.
“We didn’t take a family vacation this summer, but I did play some golf,” Self said, realizing his putter will not get much use starting today – media day, signaling the unofficial start of the 2005-06 season.
“I didn’t take much time off, but that’s OK. Even if I had time off, I couldn’t go anywhere – we couldn’t even find a week or 10 days – because my kids always have stuff going on every day. Even my off days are busy because of their activities.”
KU’s third-year coach today will talk X’s and O’s with media members – and continue on an almost-daily basis – during the six-month marathon known as the college no basketball season. Wednesday, the 42-year-old coach glowed while addressing his favorite subject: his family.
Daughter Lauren, 14, who is in ninth grade, competes in volleyball, cheerleading and tumbling. Son Tyler, 11, who is in sixth grade, participates in basketball, baseball and golf.
“I love watching my kids play,” Self said, responding “absolutely” when asked if it was one of his greatest offseason pleasures.
Nine pictures of wife Cindy and the kids are spread over his office walls and bookshelves. The tight Self family unit helped KU’s coach get through some hard times this past offseason, starting immediately after last year’s shocking season-ending loss to Bucknell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Self heard some good-natured ribbing from fans and peers and also received some nasty letters and e-mail in the wake of the 64-63 setback March 18 in Oklahoma City.
“Oh, I’ve gotten all kinds of jabs,” Self said. “One thing about it is, I’ll make a joke about it. I said, ‘I don’t want anybody using the B-word’ around here. My mother told me it’s a bad word: Bucknell. You can’t be so thin-skinned you let things bother you.”
Self still hasn’t viewed the tape of the Bucknell bummer, yet he says he’s “re-lived it more than any fan.”
The loss, which he said made him “hurt for me, the players, my family,” nonetheless didn’t change him.
“If your life changes over an athletic event, that doesn’t say much (for you),” he said, his voice trailing off. “One of the reasons you are in sports is you get to experience the emotion of competition. If you’ve only experienced the highs of competition, you have never been in competition. Competition means you win some and don’t win some.
“I hated the feeling. I hated the offseason thinking about it every morning when I woke up. I hated that, but we’ve got to move forward.”
Thus, Self said, “Bucknell is over.”
Also fleeting are memories of the J.R. Giddens saga. Giddens was stabbed in a melee outside Moon Bar on May 19 and ultimately left the team for New Mexico, his spot on the roster filled by late signee Brandon Rush.
“To me that was worse than Bucknell because one loss is bad, but in the big scope of things is not much a reflection of your program than an incident that we went through,” Self said.
“You don’t go from being a great program to a good program or a good program to an average program based on one loss, but off-court activities can certainly shed a negative light on the situation. It’s behind us. We wish J.R. the best. I hope he feels the same way. I hope it’s not talked about again.”
The only part of the saga he wants to relive is his players’ response to his edict of no trips to the bars last summer.
“I’ll be honest, I was really proud of our guys,” said Self, who relaxed the no-bar rule this semester, but put the players on a curfew after an incident in which Rodrick Stewart was bopped in the head with a bottle leaving an establishment on Aug. 28. “Our guys were not allowed to go in clubs.
“Can you imagine if you are a college guy, get on campus, have never been here before, and you can’t enter a club? How do you meet people? You can’t do anything. Our guys didn’t bellyache or complain. They did what they had to do. I know it was not that enjoyable a summer for them either, but we have learned from that.”
Self hopes his third season will be free of off-the-court incidents and shocking losses, but he realizes there are no guarantees. He plans to enjoy working with a young team – one that is reloading after losing four key seniors to graduation.
“We’ve been saying, ‘It’s time,’ for a long time,'” Self said. “I know everybody’s ready to get started.”