Bill Self on Coaching, Change, and the Jayhawks' Push for March: “Let’s Win Today”
In his 23rd season at the helm of Kansas basketball, Bill Self isn’t just navigating another strong campaign - he’s also steering the program through one of the most transformative eras in college basketball history. And if you’re wondering whether he’s thinking about stepping away anytime soon, the answer - at least from his own mouth - is pretty clear.
“I hope it does last a while longer,” Self said during his weekly Hawk Talk radio show, responding to a fan who praised the No. 8-ranked Jayhawks and expressed hope that the Hall of Fame coach would stick around for many more seasons. Self smiled at the notion, acknowledging the speculation about his future but making it known: he’s still locked in, and he still wants to win.
“I can’t wait to see how things turn out, too, but it’s been fun,” he added, reflecting on a season in which Kansas has jumped out to a 19-6 record, including a 9-3 mark in Big 12 play.
Next up for the Jayhawks: a road test Wednesday night at Oklahoma State.
On Retirement Talk: “What?”
Self didn’t shy away from addressing the swirling rumors about his retirement - rumors that have picked apart his postgame comments and turned them into tea leaves.
“There have been so many things that have happened this year,” he said. “People comment on, ‘Well, he answered this question that way, so it must mean that he’s retiring, because he said he really enjoys playing in Manhattan, and if he was going to go there next year, he wouldn’t say that.’
Or stuff like that. I’m like, ‘What?’”
It’s classic Self - direct, a little amused, and clearly more focused on the game in front of him than the noise around it.
“People think about stuff a heck of a lot more than I do when I say things,” he said. “But you know what I want to do?
I want to win. I want to win today, and I want to win tomorrow the way it’s set up now.”
The New Normal: NIL, Transfers, and Roster Turnover
Of course, “the way it’s set up now” is a far cry from the college basketball landscape Self entered two decades ago. With NIL deals and the transfer portal reshaping rosters overnight, the traditional model of building a team over multiple seasons is fading fast.
“This isn’t being remotely negative,” Self said. “But you look at the way things are going, the days of recruiting freshmen, watching them become juniors and seniors - that’s not how you recruit.”
Self broke it down like a coach who’s spent countless hours recalibrating his recruiting board.
“Do you recruit freshmen if they’re two- or three-year players, or do you recruit freshmen if they’re potentially good enough to be one-and-done and be starters as freshmen? Because if you can’t get that, are you better off going out and getting somebody that’s already proven they can score 12 or 14 points in a college game?”
It’s a shift in philosophy, not in standards. The goal is still winning. The path just looks different.
“It’s different, but that doesn’t mean it’s worse,” he said. “We still have to figure it out, because the way that we’ve always won here consistently was our second-, third- and fourth-year guys.”
He pointed to former KU star Sherron Collins as an example of how things used to be - and how different the mindset is now.
“People say to us, ‘You didn’t start Sherron Collins until he was a junior?’ If you told a kid that now, that is a third of the player that Sherron Collins is, he’d never come.”
Today Matters Most
Despite all the change, Self remains focused on the present - and he believes this team has what it takes to make a run.
“I think we’re gaining on it and figuring it out,” he said. “But the time to play to the future is behind us.
Let’s play to today. Let’s win today, and winning today is what recruits tomorrow.”
That mindset carries into the locker room and onto the floor. Even after Saturday’s 74-56 loss at Iowa State snapped an eight-game win streak, Self remains upbeat about the group he’s coaching.
“I’ve really enjoyed these kids,” he said.
The Darryn Peterson Factor
One of the biggest storylines of the season has been the availability - or lack thereof - of freshman phenom Darryn Peterson. The highly-touted guard has missed 11 games due to a mix of injuries and illness, and while his on-court production has been stellar (19.8 points, 3.9 rebounds per game on 47.9% shooting and 41.3% from deep), his absences have stirred plenty of outside speculation.
Self didn’t hold back in defending his young star.
“It’s been frustrating for everybody because of Darryn’s situation,” he said. “We all want Darryn to play, and we all want him to be good, and expectations are so high.”
What’s bothered Self most isn’t the missed time - it’s the criticism Peterson has faced for things out of his control.
“That’s the thing that’s been most frustrating to me about this year - the crap that he’s taken,” Self said. “In large part just because he’s had a string of bad injuries.
Now, if he would have been out over a significant period of time because they separated their shoulder, nobody would say anything about it. But when you play a half and then don’t play the second half and then you get sick... it gives people obviously the opening to talk and have an opinion.”
And those opinions?
“The majority of the opinions - that’s all they are - is just opinions with no basis for the opinion except, ‘Well, my experience when I had a cramp, I rubbed it off and then I went right back in,’” Self said. “That’s true.
It does happen that way with some people. It doesn’t happen that way all the time with everybody, though.”
Despite the adversity, Self believes Peterson’s story is far from finished.
“I still think it’s going to be the most rewarding,” he said. “Because he’s had to go through some stuff, and we’ve all had to adjust. And those adjustments and him going through stuff is what will make us tougher and harder whenever it counts the most.”
Self sees a silver lining in the struggles.
“We can look at things negatively or we can look at them, ‘Hey, gosh, this has been actually a blessing, and we just don’t know it yet. But if we keep grinding and get better, it could be the best thing that’s happened to us.’”
A Team That’s Easy to Coach
Through it all, Self says this group has been one of the easiest to coach in recent memory.
“This has been the easiest group to coach and be around as any that we’ve had basically, in recent memory,” he said. “And we’ve had some really good players.”
That’s not to say past teams weren’t special - but not every season comes with this kind of cohesion.
“We’ve had some cats on our team that no matter what it looked like on game night, it was a challenge to get them to game night with everybody aligned and on the same page,” Self said. “That doesn’t bother me at all.
That’s fun. But this group has been easy when it comes to that kind of stuff.”
The Road Ahead
With March looming and the Big 12 race heating up, Kansas is right in the thick of it - and so is Bill Self. He’s not looking back, and he’s not looking too far ahead.
He’s focused on today. On winning.
On building something real in a college basketball world that’s changing by the minute.
And if you ask him how long he wants to keep going?
“I hope it does last a while longer.”