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JAYHAWKS | BASKETBALL
Four Reasons Why Bill Self Will Probably Retire
And one good reason why the Jayhawk head coach just might come back for another year
As a Jayhawk basketball fan, I remember when Roy Williams announced that he was leaving Kansas for his alma mater, the University of North Carolina.
The year was 2003. It was devastating. The Kansas Jayhawks had enjoyed so much success with Williams at the helm.
In 15 seasons, he had an 80.5 winning percentage (418–101). He took the Jayhawks to 14 NCAA appearances, four Final Fours, two national title games, and nine conference titles.
The only thing Roy Williams had left to do at Kansas was win a national championship, but the pull of UNC was just too great to resist.
How could we possibly find someone to replace the legacy that Roy Williams left behind?
Less than a month later, Kansas announced that it had hired the Illinois coach, Bill Self. I was intrigued. I knew he had some success at Illinois and Tulsa before that. I remembered him as a player for Oklahoma State.
He had been a grad assistant for Larry Brown at Kansas during the 1985–1986 season.
