Bill Self has been touched by Hurricane Katrina relief efforts both big and small.
“A little girl in our neighborhood has a lemonade stand I bet has raised $100. Schools are doing things. Hair salons are doing things. Everybody is doing something. If not, they should be. Every little bit helps,” Self, Kansas University’s emotional third-year basketball coach, said Monday.
KU’s athletic department donated $10,000 to hurricane relief, and Jayhawk athletes have been taking up collections at home football games. Also, the men’s basketball team, it could be announced officially today, is planning to play New Orleans University this season at Allen Fieldhouse – likely Dec. 29.
The proposed game will be shown on national TV.
“The benefit for them is not only guarantee money, but getting it to be an ESPN game – getting some exposure for the school and New Orleans,” said KU senior associate athletic director Larry Keating, who’s been working to get one 2005-06 foe to postpone its game with KU one year so the Jayhawks can play UNO.
Keating came up with the idea when talking to New Orleans officials about moving a women’s round-robin tournament (Privateer Invitational involving KU, UNO, and Birmingham Southern) in December from Louisiana to Lawrence.
“We knew if we had the opportunity, getting the game on ESPN would be significant for them,” Keating said. “They will be playing their home games at Tyler, Texas, this year, and some games may be lost in transition. They are losing all that home game income, this could help supplement them a bit.”
Self – actually his dad, Bill, Sr. – recently came up with an idea that would help all hurricane affected states in the South: Have all teams play a third exhibition game during the 2005-06 season, with all proceeds going to the relief effort.
“We wouldn’t even call it a third exhibition game, but call it the ‘Hurricane Relief Game’ with everybody pushing it across America,” Self said. “I think with support of the coaches and media backing it, it would be a home run. I think a great amount of dollars could be raised on one given night.”
Self, who is a board member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, spoke with current Southern Cal and former New Orleans coach Tim Floyd several times about the idea. It eventually was presented to the NCAA, which apparently is not interested.
The NCAA on its Web site instead has suggested schools could perhaps charge admission/and or accept donations at their season-opening basketball scrimmages and collect money at the exhibition games.
“I don’t think we would charge,” Self said of KU charging admission at Late Night in the Phog on Oct. 14. “Late Night has always been a service for the fans here. It’s worked out great. You might charge a buck or something, but we’ve not talked about it (as administrative staff) yet.
“We just thought adding a game – in which everything was budgeted with the relief effort in mind – wouldn’t take much (to organize), would raise a lot of dollars and would make sense.”
The NCAA has rejected ideas that have made sense to coaches before.
“I do not want to make it sound like I’m upset at the NCAA,” Self stressed. “There could be logistical problems in playing a third game. There are other ways coaches can help raise money.”
One of those is Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg’s online auction site – allcoachescare.com – on which coaches will auction off autographed items and special promotions.
“We’ll participate,” Self said, “whether it’s having people bid on a trip for two to take with the team … or something else, we’ll figure something out.”
Self is for anything to help those affected by Katrina.
“You watch TV like everybody else … the images are so sad to see,” Self said. “The young man who committed to us (Dwight Lewis of Metairie, La., who earlier this summer decommitted), they got the family out of there, but they lost their home.
“Everybody has been touched in a way like 9-11. That was a terrorist attack. This a natural disaster. This is where people’s backs are to the wall, and everybody should do what they can do to help.”
After all … “You are talking about $352 billion in damages. The worst hurricane disaster before this was something like $25 billion, if I’m not mistaken,” Self said. “This wiped out a whole city. It’s unfathomable.
“I met a guy at our football game Saturday who is a Tulane student going to KU now. He said, ‘I’m doing fine, but this is about the only shirt I have,”‘ Self said. “The people who lost their homes … can they get it all back with insurance companies going through bankruptcy? There’s so much that can be done, and I’m sure the NCAA and others will come up with many ways to raise needed dollars.”
¢ Muonelo visit: Self had an in-home visit with Obi Muonelo, a 6-foot-4 senior from Edmond (Okla.) High on Sunday night. Monday, Self was in Chicago to visit the home of Sherron Collins, a 5-11 senior from Crane High. Today, he will be in Dallas to visit Darrell Arthur, 6-9 senior from South Oak Cliff High.
