Why Bill Self is a better fit for Kansas than Roy Williams

With the onset of the college basketball season, I am excited beyond words. For a Kansas alum, I consider this the greatest of all sport. Bar none.

Many in the basketball community thought Kansas was finished after we lost our coach of 15 seasons, Roy Williams. KU hired Roy after the 1988 national championship season. We had just been placed on probation after our former coach, Larry Brown, purchased a plane ticket for a recruit to go home for his grandmother's funeral. No one wanted to touch the job, especially after the National Player of the Year, Danny Manning, graduated and went to the NBA. Thus, we hired Roy Williams, a man whose only previous head coaching experience was at the high school level, on the recommendation of Dean Smith, a KU alum who declined the position himself after they just named a new Basketball arena after him at the University of North Carolina. Roy had served under Dean Smith for 10 seasons as an assistant coach.

Anyway, to replace Roy, who departed KU one week after losing to Syracuse in the national title game here in New Orleans, KU swiped Bill Self away from Illinois. Self had played at Oklahoma State, another Big Eight school (now the Big 12), and served as an assistant to Larry Brown on the 1986 team that went to the Final Four in Dallas, losing to the Duke in the National Semifinals. Moreover, he had guided two schools, Tulsa and Illinois to the Elite Eight, never quite reaching the Final Four.

You might ask where am I going with this line of reasoning. Since Roy has left, Bill Self has re-recruited the top 5 class that Roy left behind and added two more top 5 class to that class. Barring any injuries (God forbid) we're loaded at every position for the next few years. Of all the great success Roy had at Kansas, he could never put together consistent great recruiting classes. He would put his eggs in one basket and, if that recruit didn't come, we'd end up with plan B or C or, well, you get the picture. The state of Kansas does not produce many basketball phenoms so we have to go out of state to get them. And Roy wouldn't recruit in areas of the country where UNC had a stronghold. Moreover, he told Bill Self of the "Fool's Gold" on the recruiting trail when it came to Kansas. I truly believe that, as much as Roy loved KU, he thought UNC was better. It showed in his actions and he did leave KU for UNC.

Bill Self has a grace, style, and understanding of the great tradition of KU basketball and he is able to sell it to the premier high school players in the country. In spite of Roy's advice, they're coming to Kansas. Players speak of Bill's laid-back attitude and ability to relate to the players. He loves this job and knows how the KU community lives and dies with basketball. More importantly, he embraces it and doesn't believe there's a better school out there.

Bill's coaching style is completely different than Roy's. Bill adjusts his team concept and game strategies around the players he has available and is extremely flexible. At Illinois, he had a bruising style since that's what he was left with while at Tulsa, his teams ran up and down the floor lighting up the scoreboard. During a game, Roy made few adjustments, believing the game plan he had outlined would eventually triumph, regardless how far the Jayhawks fell behind. Self is terrific at in-game adjustments and will throw out the playbook if something isn't working.

And last and perhaps most important, Bill is one tough SOB. His squads play aggressive defense and will not back down to anyone. Roy's teams, on the other hand, were known as choir boys. In fact, in one of our weakest hours, a Bill Self coached Illinois team knocked us out of the Sweet 16 with physical basketball. In short, we were afraid of them. And, it doesn't hurt that Self is 6-0 against Missouri in his coaching career.

So, there you have it. Fellow KU fans, we're in good hands. The future is very bright indeed.