Bill Self

Bill Self
Bill Self at the White House, 2008
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Kansas
Record	256–51 (.833)
Annual salary	$3,000,000
Biographical details
Born	December 27, 1962 (1962-12-27) Okmulgee, Oklahoma, USA
Playing career
1981–1985	Oklahoma State
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1985–1986 1986–1993 1993–1997 1997–2000 2000–2003 2003–present	Kansas (A) Oklahoma State (A) Oral Roberts Tulsa Illinois Kansas
Head coaching record
Overall	463–156 (.748)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament: (2008) Regional Championship - Final Four: 2008 Big 12 Tournament Championships:     2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 Big 12 Regular Season Championships:     2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Big Ten Tournament Championship: 2003 Big Ten Regular Season Championships: 2001, 2002 WAC Regular Season Championships: 1998, 1999
Awards AP Coach of the year: 2009 Henry Iba Award Coach of the Year: 2009 Sporting News Coach of the Year: 2000, 2009 Big 12 Coach of the Year: 2006, 2009, 2011 WAC Coach of the Year: 2000

Bill Self (born Billy Eugene Self, Jr., December 27, 1962 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma) is an American college men's basketball coach at the University of Kansas, where he led the Jayhawks to the 2008 NCAA national championship.

Self was named National Coach of the Year by The Sporting News in 2000 and 2009, Associated Press in 2009, USBWA Henry Iba Award winner in 2009, CBS/Chevrolet in 2009 and ESPN.com in 2009. He was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2006, 2009, and 2011. He is a five-time finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2009). He was a 2010 United Nations NGO Positive Peace Award nominee for his work with Boys Clubs/Girls Clubs Of America and the Boy Scouts. From 2007-2011 Self had the best 5 year record of any Men's Basketball coach in Division 1 history.

Self played collegiate basketball at Oklahoma State University, where he was a four-year letter winner between 1982 and 1985 and was an All-Big Eight freshman selection in 1982. He received his bachelor's degree in business in 1985 and a master's degree in athletic administration in 1989, both from Oklahoma State University.

Collegiate coaching history

Early coaching jobs

After a successful playing career as Oklahoma High School Basketball Player of the Year in 1981 at Edmond Memorial High School and then playing for Paul Hansen's Oklahoma State Cowboys, Self joined Larry Brown's coaching staff at the University of Kansas, replacing the position vacated by John Calipari when he accepted an Assistant Coach position at the University of Pittsburgh. Self remained at Kansas as an Assistant Coach through the 1985–1986 seasons. Between 1986 and 1993, Self was an assistant coach at Oklahoma State University under Leonard Hamilton, followed by Eddie Sutton.

Oral Roberts

After Oral Roberts University (ORU), in the 1992–1993 season, compiled a 5–22 record, the worst in its history, Self was hired as its head coach. In his first season at ORU, the team managed just six victories. Things improved slightly the following year when ORU won ten games. In Self's third season, he guided the Golden Eagles to an 18–9 record. And in his fourth season (1996–1997), ORU registered a 21–7 record as the school made its first post season tournament appearance since 1983–1984 in the National Invitation Tournament.

Tulsa

After rebuilding the Golden Eagles, Self was hired by crosstown rival the University of Tulsa and spent three seasons (1998 to 2000) there, compiling a Tulsa-best 74–27 record. While at TU, he coached the Hurricane to two NCAA tournament appearances in 1999 and 2000. In 2000, TU went 32–5, setting a school single-season record for victories, as well as coaching the Golden Hurricane to their first-ever Elite Eight appearance.

Illinois

On June 9, 2000, the University of Illinois named Bill Self as the head coach of their basketball program. Self's predecessor Lon Kruger, had recently left the Illinois program to accept a job in the NBA as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks.

In 2001, his first season at Illinois, Self coached a squad of mostly Lon Kruger recruits to a 27-8 record (13-3 conference record), a share of the Big Ten title, and a final Associated Press ranking of 4th in the nation, which resulted in earning the Fighting Illini a number '1' seed in the NCAA Tournament. Self coached Illinois guards Frank Williams and Cory Bradford, along with guard/forward Sergio McClain, forward Brian Cook, and center Marcus Griffin, to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. The Illini failed to advance beyond the Elite Eight after falling to eventual tournament finalists number '2' seeded Arizona. The '01 Illini roster included future NBA players Frank Williams, Robert Archibald and Brian Cook. With mostly the same core, Illinois followed up the season with impressive 2002 and 2003 campaigns, but fell in the NCAA Tournament sweet 16 in 2002 to the University of Kansas, and the second round in 2003 to the University of Notre Dame.

After the 2003 season, Roy Williams left the University of Kansas to take over at North Carolina. This vacancy left many speculating that Self would take what was well-publicized as his "dream job" with the Jayhawks. Self told a large group of Illini supporters that he was happy at Illinois, but he did not close the door on the move. Self left for Kansas just a few days later.

Self was responsible for the recruitment of many of the 2005 Fighting Illini team which won the Big Ten title under Bruce Weber. Bruce Weber replaced Self prior to the 2004 season and coached the 2005 Fighting Illini, almost exclusively Self's recruits, to a NCAA record tying 37–2 record after falling to North Carolina in the NCAA championship game. Players Self recruited and developed on that team included four eventual NBA draft picks, New Jersey Nets guard Deron Williams, Dee Brown, Luther Head and James Augustine.

Self also secured a verbal commitment from forward Charlie Villanueva, who was a projected 1st round pick in the NBA draft out of High School. After Self left for Kansas, and after a tornado struck Lawrence during his visit, Villanueva decided not to follow Self to Kansas and opted to attend the University of Connecticut.

In Self's three seasons in Illinois, he led the Fighting Illini to two Big Ten regular-season championships, a Big Ten Tournament title, and three straight NCAA tournament appearances. His record was 78–24 in that span, the best three-season run in Illinois' history until it was surpassed by Illinois' subsequent coach Bruce Weber soon thereafter.

Kansas

Self (third from left) sitting on the bench with his staff and players in a November 2007 game.

In his first season at Kansas, Self led the Kansas team to the Elite Eight at the NCAA tournament, where they fell to Georgia Tech in overtime. The following season, the Jayhawks began the season ranked #1 and started off 20–1, but slumped and lost six of their final nine games. Kansas received a #3 seed in the tournament and lost to #14 seed Bucknell University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The team finished 23–7 and settled for a Big 12 co-championship with Oklahoma.

In 2005–06, little was expected of the freshman/sophomore dominated Jayhawks, as they were unranked in preseason polls and picked to finish 6th in the conference. They began the season 10–6, including 1–2 in the Big 12. Although they did post a 73–46 win over Kentucky, they also saw the end of their 31-game winning streak over rival Kansas State with a 59–55 loss at Allen Fieldhouse, and two nights later blew a seven point lead in the final 45 seconds of regulation en route to a 89–86 overtime loss at Missouri. But afterward, the Jayhawks matured rapidly, winning 15 of their final 17 games. They picked up impressive road wins over Texas A&M (83-73), Iowa State (95–85), Nebraska (69–48), and Oklahoma State (64–49). They mounted a monumental comeback victory over Oklahoma (59–58) after falling behind by as many as 16 in the second half, and avenged their loss to Missouri with a 79-46 victory over the Tigers in Lawrence. KU did stumble against Texas, taking an 80–55 beating, but they won their final two Big 12 games over Colorado and at Kansas State (avenging the earlier loss at home), and taking advantage of a Texas loss to Texas A&M to force a tie for the Big 12 title at 13–3. KU played as the #2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament in Dallas, and avenged the loss to Texas with an 80–68 victory over the Longhorns in the final to clinch the Tournament championship and the highlight win of the season. KU was handed a #4 seed for the NCAA Tournament but stumbled again in the first round with a loss to the #13 seed Bradley Braves.

Prior to the 2006–07 season, Self was 72–24 (.750) in three seasons at KU and 279–129 (.683) in 13 seasons overall and 13–8 in NCAA tourney play. On February 10, 2007, Self recorded his 300th career win in a 92–74 victory at Missouri. Self did lead Kansas to the 2007 Big 12 regular season championship with a 14–2 record, highlighted by beating the Kevin Durant-led Texas Longhorns in monumental come-from-behind victories in the last game of the regular season and in the Big 12 Championship game. At the end of the regular season, Kansas stood at 27–4 and ranked #2 in the nation in both the AP and Coaches' polls. In the NCAA Tournament, Self's Jayhawks received a number 1 seed, and advanced to Self's fourth career Elite Eight, with the team garnering commanding wins over 16-seed Niagara and 8-seed Kentucky, as well as a tough-fought victory over the 4th-seeded Southern Illinois Salukis. Kansas's tournament run ended in the Elite Eight with a loss to 2-seed UCLA.

In the 2007-2008 season, Self's Kansas team began the season 20–0 until they suffered their first loss at Kansas State, their first loss in their last 24 trips to Manhattan (their last loss on K-State's home court was in 1983). The Jayhawks won the Big 12 regular season title and the Big 12 conference tourney. Thus, in his first five seasons at KU he won the regular season conference title four times. They received a number one seeding in NCAA Tournament in the Midwest region. On March 30, 2008, Self led Kansas to a win in an Elite Eight game over upstart Davidson College. KU won by two, 59-57, after a last second shot by Davidson's Jason Richards only drew backboard. The Jayhawks played overall number 1 tournament seed and Self's predecessor Roy Williams for the first time since he left, North Carolina in the semifinals, taking revenge on them 84–66. They then defeated the John Calipari-led Memphis Tigers on April 7, 2008, in one of the most dramatic national title endings ever, in which Mario Chalmers hoisted up a 3-pointer with 3.6 seconds left to force overtime in a 75–68 victory in the NCAA Championship Game.

Self lost his entire starting lineup and two reserves to the NBA draft for the 2008-2009 season, and returned only two role players from the NCAA Championship squad. With guard Sherron Collins and center Cole Aldrich, Self responded by coaching the team to a 25-6 regular season record, a Big 12 championship, a Sweet Sixteen showing at the NCAA post-season tournament, and several national coach of the year awards.

Self is one of three active coaches who have led three different teams to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament (Rick Pitino and John Calipari are the others). During his first few seasons at Kansas, he has also persuaded several McDonald's All-Americans to become Jayhawks including Mario Chalmers, Julian Wright, Micah Downs (who later transferred to Gonzaga), Sherron Collins, Darrell Arthur, Cole Aldrich, Xavier Henry, and the #1 recruit in the 2010 freshman class Josh Selby.

In August 2008, Self signed a new 10-year contract, paying him $3 million annually and making him the second-highest-paid coach in college basketball at the time, following Florida's Billy Donovan.

Going into the 2009–10 season, the Jayhawks were ranked #1 in the preseason polls. The team went 33–3 and won Self's sixth straight Big 12 Championship, something no team had accomplished in a BCS conference since John Wooden's UCLA teams of the 1960s and 70s. The team also won the Big 12 Tournament, Self's third. Self reached his 400th career victory with a win over Iowa State on February 13. The Jayhawks had their 2,000th win in school history under Self when they defeated Texas Tech in the 2009-2010 season, joining University of Kentucky and University of North Carolina as the only schools to have such an achievement. However, the Jayhawks were seeded #1 in the NCAA Tournament and were upset by #9 seeded Northern Iowa (who were 29-4 and ranked #24 in the USA Today Poll entering the game) in the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

Recruiting began immediately for the 2010–2011 season, as Kansas landed top recruit Josh Selby in April. By September 2010, both The Sporting News and Athlon Sports had ranked Kansas in their pre-season outlook as #4 overall and, along with ESPN's Joe Lunardi, were projected to become a #1 seed again in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Blue Ribbon and the USA Today/ESPN coaches polls both placed Kansas at #7 in the pre-season poll. Josh Selby became eligible mid season and joined the Jayhawks beginning December 18 against USC. The Jayhawks went 29-2 during the regular season, winning the Big-12 Conference title and the Big 12 Conference tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.

Bill Self's career home record at "The Phog" is currently 141–7, an NCAA percentage best of .951. Self was named Big 12 Coach Of The Year for the third time on March 6, both in the coaches' poll and by the Associated Press. The Jayhawks entered the NCAA tournament as the #1 seed in the Southwest Region, defeating 16th seed Boston University and 9th seed Illinois to advance to the Sweet 16 where they beat 12th seed University of Richmond. Kansas lost against #11 seed VCU in the Elite Eight of the 2011 NCAA tourney in a 10-point defeat.

Over the last five seasons (2007–2011), Self's KU teams won 165 games, an average of 33.0 wins a year, passing Mike Krzyzewski of Duke (164 wins, 32.8 a year from 1998 to 2002) and Jerry Tarkanian of UNLV (163 wins, 32.6 a year from 1987-1991) for the best 5 year record of any Men's Basketball coach in Division 1 history. (Memphis' entire 38-win 2007-2008 season was vacated by the NCAA for using an ineligible player, so former Memphis and current Kentucky coach John Calipari's record from 2006–2009 at Memphis and 2010 at Kentucky does not qualify).

In the 2010-2011 season, Self led the Jayhawks past North Carolina to end the season at number 2 on the all-time wins list, trailing leader Kentucky by 14 games (List of teams with the most victories in NCAA Division I men's college basketball).

Professional Players Coached

Player	Draft	Pro Team(s)
Tulsa
Michael Ruffin	32nd, Chicago Bulls, 1999 NBA Draft	Bulls, 76ers, CE Lleida Bàsquet, Jazz, Wizards, Bucks, Blazers
Illinois
Robert Archibald	31st, Memphis Grizzlies, 2002 NBA Draft	Grizzlies, Suns, Magic, Raptors, Valencia BC, Victoria Libertas Pesaro, Joventut Badalona, Azovmash Mariupol
James Augustine	41st, Orlando Magic, 2006 NBA Draft	Magic
Dee Brown	46th, Utah Jazz, 2006 NBA Draft	Jazz, Galatasaray Café Crown, Wizards, Suns,>Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.
Brian Cook	24th, Los Angeles Lakers, 2003 NBA Draft	Lakers, Magic, Rockets
Luther Head	24th, Houston Rockets, 2005 NBA Draft	Houston, Heat, Pacers
Roger Powell	Undrafted	Jazz, Teramo Basket, Hapoel Jerusalem B.C.
Deron Williams	3rd, Utah Jazz, 2005 NBA Draft	Jazz, Nets
Frank Williams	25th, Denver Nuggets, 2002 NBA Draft	Knicks, Bulls
Kansas
Cole Aldrich	11th, New Orleans Hornets, 2010 NBA Draft	Thunder
Darrell Arthur	27th, Memphis Grizzlies, 2008 NBA Draft	Grizzlies
Sherron Collins	Undrafted	Bobcats
Mario Chalmers	34th, Miami Heat, 2008 NBA Draft	Heat
JR Giddens	30th, Boston Celtics, 2008 NBA Draft	Celtics
Jeff Graves	Undrafted	Erie BayHawks
Xavier Henry	12th, Memphis Grizzlies, 2010 NBA Draft	Grizzlies
Darnell Jackson	52nd, Miami Heat, 2008 NBA Draft	Cavaliers, Bucks, Kings
Sasha Kaun	56th, Seattle SuperSonics, 2008 NBA Draft	CSKA Moscow
Keith Langford	Undrafted	Spurs, Virtus Bologna, BC Khimki
Mario Little	Undrafted	SK Dnipro Azot Dniprodzerzhynsk
Aaron Miles	Undrafted	Golden State Warriors, Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez, CB Sevilla, Panionios B.C., Aris BC
Brady Morningstar	Undrafted	Tulsa 66ers
Marcus Morris	14th, Houston Rockets, 2011 NBA Draft	Rockets
Markieff Morris	13th, Phoenix Suns, 2011 NBA Draft	Suns
Tyrel Reed	Undrafted	RBC Verviers-Pepinster
Russell Robinson	Undrafted	Rockets, Trabzonspor
Brandon Rush	13th, Indiana Pacers, 2008 NBA Draft	Pacers, Golden State Warriors
Josh Selby	49th, Memphis Grizzlies, 2011 NBA Draft	Grizzlies
Rodrick Stewart	Undrafted	Bashkimi Prizren
Wayne Simien	29th, Miami Heat, 2005 NBA Draft	Heat
Julian Wright	13th, New Orleans Hornets, 2007 NBA Draft	Hornets, Raptors

Assists Foundation

In June 2006, Self and his wife, Cindy, established the Assists Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization to serve as a fundraising conduit for organizations that serve a variety of youth initiatives. The mission of Assists is to help provide young people access to better lives. This is accomplished by identifying areas of need and working with other community-based institutions to provide creative and lasting solutions.^{[citation needed]}

Assists held its first public fundraiser June 7, 2008—Bill's Basketball Boogie (www.basketballboogie.org) at Kansas Speedway. Over fifty local businesses and Kansas supporters signed on to sponsor the event which offered opportunities to socialize with past and present Kansas basketball elite and to purchase valuable basketball memorabilia and travel and entertainment venues through the auction. Entertainment was provided by Sawyer Brown and Disco Dick.

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Oral Roberts (Independent) (1993–1997)
1993–94	Oral Roberts	6–21
1994–95	Oral Roberts	10–17
1995–96	Oral Roberts	18–9
1996–97	Oral Roberts	21–7			NIT 1st Round
Oral Roberts:		55–54
Tulsa (Western Athletic Conference) (1997–2000)
1997–98	Tulsa	19–12	9–5	3rd (Pacific)
1998–99	Tulsa	23–10	9–5	T–1st (Mountain)	NCAA 2nd Round
1999–2000	Tulsa	32–5	12–2	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
Tulsa:		74–27	30–12
Illinois (Big Ten Conference) (2000–2003)
2000–01	Illinois	27–8	13–3	T–1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2001–02	Illinois	26–9	11–5	T–1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2002–03	Illinois	25–7	11–5	2nd	NCAA 2nd Round
Illinois:		78–24	35–13
Kansas (Big 12 Conference) (2003–present)
2003–04	Kansas	24–9	12–4	T–2nd	NCAA Elite Eight
2004–05	Kansas	23–7	12–4	T–1st	NCAA 1st Round
2005–06	Kansas	25–8	13–3	T–1st	NCAA 1st Round
2006–07	Kansas	33–5	14–2	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2007–08	Kansas	37–3	13–3	T–1st	NCAA Champions
2008–09	Kansas	27–8	14–2	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2009–10	Kansas	33–3	15–1	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
2010–11	Kansas	35–3	14–2	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2011–12	Kansas	22-5	12–2
Kansas:		258–51	118–23
Total:		464–156
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

Record against Big-12 opponents

This table includes only those games played while coach at Kansas.

	Total			Home			Away			Neutral
Team	Wins	Losses	Win Pct.	Wins	Losses	Win Pct.	Wins	Losses	Win Pct.	Wins	Losses	Win Pct.
Baylor Bears	10	1	.909	6	0	1.000	4	0	1.000	0	1	.000
Iowa State Cyclones	15	3	.833	8	1	.889	7	2	.778	0	0	–
Kansas State Wildcats	17	3	.850	8	1	.889	6	2	.750	3	0	1.000
Missouri Tigers	14	4	.778	8	0	1.000	5	4	.556	1	0	1.000
Oklahoma Sooners	10	1	.909	5	0	1.000	4	1	.800	1	0	1.000
Oklahoma State Cowboys	7	4	.636	4	0	1.000	1	3	.250	2	1	.667
Texas Longhorns	9	5	.643	3	1	.750	2	3	.400	4	1	.800
Texas A&M Aggies	10	1	.909	4	1	.800	4	0	1.000	2	0	1.000
Texas Tech Red Raiders	8	3	.727	4	0	1.000	3	3	.500	1	0	1.000
Total	130	27	.828	64	4	.941	48	19	.716	17	3	.850
vs. North	80	12	.870	40	2	.952	32	9	.780	7	0	1.000
vs. South	52	15	.776	25	2	.926	17	10	.630	10	3	.769

Updated through February 4, 2012

External links

• BillSelf.com
• University of Kansas Athletics
• Bill Self's Assists Foundation