“I am a happy guy,” Self said, quickly adding, “I do think … the younger I was, the more I rolled with it. Now, I don’t roll with it as much. It still beats work, though.”

Self – who has a record of 299-133 in 14 seasons as a head coach, including a 92-28 mark in four years at KU – has noticed some small changes in his demeanor in his stops at ORU, Tulsa, Illinois and now KU.

“I really feel when I was first getting into coaching, things didn’t frustrate me as quickly,” Self said. “I may have had a little more patience. The longer you coach, you think, ‘How many times have I told you (player) to do this?’ These things start to frustrate you.

“You hear yourself say the same things for so long. I can now understand coach Sutton’s scowl,” said a grinning Self, who worked for legendary Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton as an assistant from 1991 to ’93.

‘A competitor’

Self, who shoots for a milestone victory in today’s 2:45 p.m. tipoff against rival Missouri at Mizzou Arena, doesn’t necessarily scowl like current Cowboy coach Sean Sutton’s dad. His face does contort as if he took a swig of sour milk, however, during low points in practices and games, especially games in which his Jayhawks lose.

“Bill is a fierce competitor,” stated Eddie Sutton, who offered Self a job after he took over at Oklahoma State for Self’s former boss, Leonard Hamilton, because “I thought he was head-coaching material.

“Bill is a very good teacher who has great work habits. He’s a very good recruiter. He was for us and all the places he’s been. He is outstanding in all areas. He’s done a great job at Kansas. Kansas has had Ted (Owens), Larry (Brown), Roy (Williams) now Bill … all great coaches.”

Self, who doesn’t like to talk about himself – he’s yet to refer to himself in the third person like so many others in the public eye – quite frankly never figured he’d someday be racking up coaching victories at any school, much less one like Kansas.

“In Oklahoma, you emulated your parents. If your mom taught, you taught. If your dad taught, you taught. I told myself I was not going to do it,” explained Self, whose dad was longtime head of the Oklahoma High School Activities Assn. and mom a high school teacher.

“I even majored in business in college to make sure I didn’t do it,” said Self, a point guard who prepped at Edmond High before moving on the Oklahoma State University. “And lo and behold I got a chance to come here right out of the chute. I was one of those guys to get the perfect break at the most opportune time.”

Working for pennies

Upon graduation from Oklahoma State, he took advantage of Larry Brown’s offer to let him work as a graduate assistant at Kansas during the 1985-86 Final Four season.

Self after that immediately landed a spot on Leonard Hamilton’s Oklahoma State staff as a part-time assistant, and later became Hamilton’s restricted earnings coach. Amazingly, in 20 years, he’s gone from making nickels and dimes under Brown and Hamilton to well over $1 million a year.

“I made $4,400. I still had to pay for school out of that,” Self said of his G.A. salary at KU. “But back then you don’t have any responsibilities. I thought I was in good shape financially. I thought, ‘I’ve got money to go out on.’ That is not much money, but I thought it was more than enough.”

Especially considering his job duties.

“I read ‘USA Today’ and let coach Brown know if there was anything worth reading in it,” Self said with a smile. “That was basically my job description. I was the guy who basically did what the other coaches didn’t want to do.”

He learned much from men like Brown, Hamilton and Sutton – above all else the importance of players giving 100 percent effort at all times, especially on the defensive end.

“I can tell you exactly what we expect from the players,” said Self, who almost always uses “we” instead of “I” in his public comments.

“We expect them to play their butts off every possession. We expect them to represent Kansas in a way it deserves to be represented. We expect ’em to play with reckless abandon and do it in the confines of the parameters we set forth. We expect ’em to play with great energy and enthusiasm. We do those things and obviously others will take care of themselves.

“I expect guys to be as good as they can be,” he added. “I will say if we do the things I mentioned, we will have a good record at the end of the season. Something else … we don’t expect perfection, but we expect kids to play beyond their years, beyond their age. At the same time, we try as best we can to be patient with them and to not expect perfection.”

Players respect mentor

Self’s players say he can be patient at times, ultra demanding at others.

“He is a great coach, also a good motivator,” KU sophomore Julian Wright said. “He is tough, but still knows we are 19-, 20-, 21-year-olds and go through stuff, need a boost of confidence. Coach is good at doing that as well.

“It’s good to know he understands. He’s been there. He was a college athlete as well. We have respect for that.”

Junior Jeremy Case, who has not played significant minutes in his three seasons at KU, still is a big supporter of Self, who, when he hits his upcoming milestone, will be the 53rd active coach in Div. I to bag 300 victories.

“He definitely knows the game,” said Case, whose dad, Win, was a college teammate of Self’s at Oklahoma State. “I am definitely learning a lot from him. If I get into coaching I definitely will use some of his tactics and things.”

Case especially likes Self’s work ethic.

“He has worked hard to get where he is,” Case said. “I think he deserves recognition for something like this (winning 300 games). I would be shocked, surprised if he even knew about it (going for his 300th win). I guess he’d know through the media. He never brings up personal things.”

Proof of that … Self says he remembers little to nothing about his first victory, which came in his head coaching debut – a 78-66 win over Sam Houston State on Nov. 26, 1993.

“I just know we struggled early,” said Self, whose first Oral Roberts team lost 15 straight games to conclude a 6-21 season. “We’ve had a lot of good players since.”