Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The last time Kansas played in the Final Four, in 2003, speculation centered on whether Roy Williams would take the vacant North Carolina coaching job. As Kansas enters the Final Four this week, there’s talk again about its coach possibly leaving for another school.
This time, Bill Self is being linked to Oklahoma State, his alma mater. Sean Sutton resigned as head coach of the Cowboys on Tuesday, and Self gave his thoughts about the vacant position.
“I do care deeply about my alma mater,” Self said, “but nobody from there has contacted me. If they did, I would strongly recommend that they move in a different direction.”
Self got a phone call late Tuesday morning from a fan who warned him that Sutton might resign later in the day. Immediately after he got the call, Self said he went to speak with Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins.
They discussed the possibility of Sutton’s resignation and talked about how they would evaluate Self’s contract situation at the end of the season, as they had planned to do throughout the year.
Self doesn’t think the speculation about him leaving for Oklahoma State will cause a distraction this week for himself or his players. He planned on discussing the situation with the team after practice on Tuesday. Self pointed out that Florida coach Billy Donovan dealt with rumors last season about him leaving to coach Kentucky, and his team went on to win the national championship.
“I bet Kentucky wasn’t talking to Billy,” Self said, “but it was a story. The media made it out to be a story that didn’t have any legs, and I will expect this to be the case.”
Senior guard Jeremy Case was a senior in high school when Williams was linked to the North Carolina job and then left after losing in the national championship game. He said the rumors about Williams didn’t bother him then, and he doesn’t think these will bother this team.
“We’re just focused on North Carolina and the Final Four,” Case said. “We’re not focused on any other jobs or anything, just the weekend.”
Self played at Oklahoma State from 1981 to 1985 and worked as an assistant coach under Leonard Hamilton and Eddie Sutton for seven seasons before getting his first head-coaching job at Oral Roberts in 1992.
— Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird
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Comments
Self says he won’t leave for Oklahoma State
Mark, Bill Self did not deny that he would not talk to OSU, or that he would leave KU for OSU. "Strongly recomend[ing] that they move in another direction" can not be considered the same as for example "I will not leave KU for OSU" or "I am not going to consider an offer from OSU."
KU is a top tier program (KU, UK, UCLA, IU, UNC and maybe Duke). OSU is a second tier program. Why would Self leave OSU for KU? 1st, he still has a house in Edmond, OK, 30 minutes from Stillwater, 2nd, he is an OSU alum, 3rd, 4 million a year would be hard for anyone to turn down. I would still be suprised if he left KU, but not shocked...
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