Speak for your Self

Kansas introduces ex-Illinois coach as Williams' successor

Bill Self has some tough acts to follow at Kansas. AP

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Bill Self's first act as Kansas basketball coach was to heal.

Speaking to about 400 people at his introductory news conference Monday, Self noted the bitterness that Roy Williams stirred up when he resigned the week before to go to North Carolina. Similar feelings erupted at Illinois when Self resigned after three years to take what he says was his dream job with the Jayhawks.

"This has been an emotional whirlwind for everybody in this room, and certainly it has been for me and my family and the people I'm closest to," Self said.

"I stand before you with mixed emotions. There's been a lot of things said, a lot of feelings have been hurt, a lot of things happen in the last seven or eight days at two wonderful institutions. Nobody picks the timing. Certainly, I didn't pick this."

Big shoes to fill Click the image to launch the clip Bill Self knows his coaching predecessors at Kansas are tough acts to follow. Start Video Plus Visit Video Plus for all the latest video and audio.

Self, 40, admitted he was leaving a great situation with the Illini, where he was 78-24 and twice Big Ten champion.

"It was a very difficult decision to leave," he said. "I'm leaving behind an unbelievably good situation. I'm leaving behind a great fan base, a great administration, great young players who basically were committed to the cause and to do everything they could to prop me up and make me look good.

"It pulls on your emotional strings to walk away from people who have been very good to you."

Self also flashed the famous sense of humor that's become his hallmark while compiling an overall record of 207-105 in 10 seasons as a head coach. While introducing him, chancellor Robert Hemenway handed Self a metal folding chair representing the head coach's chair at the Kansas basketball program.

"I just touched it and it already feels very hot," Self said.

Hemenway said the search committee had focused on one man and that was Self.

"It soon become clear the interest was mutual," Hemenway said.

Self noted that he inherits an outstanding group of players, including three starters from the team that lost to Syracuse by three points in this year's NCAA title game. He said he has already contacted three of the four bluechip recruits that Williams had signed to letters of intent; he has yet to speak with Omar Wilkes, a 6-foot-4 guard from Los Angeles.

But Self already knows the Wilkes family, since he tried to recruit Omar, the son of former NBA great Jamaal Wilkes, to Illinois.

"He seems like a very nice man," Valerie Wilkes, Omar's mother, said from Los Angeles. She said her son was still intending to attend Kansas.

Another recruit, David Padgett, a 7-foot high school All-American from Reno., Nev., watched the news conference with his family.

"He is a very impressive man," said Pete Padgett, David's father and high school coach. "We talked to him briefly last night and he's going to come out for an extended visit later."

The Padgett family has said they will more than likely not seek a release from David's letter of intent with the Jayhawks.

"He was impressive, but we've got some questions," Pete Padgett said. "We spent two and a half years picking a school. It's not reasonable to think we can get through it here in a day or two."

Self said the Kansas program "is bigger than one player."

"It's bigger than one coach. You've been spoiled. You've had a coach here for the last 15 years who has done a remarkably great job. He's done it the right way. He's done it with class and with dignity, and the performance on the court certainly equaled the performance off the court. It's a tough act to follow."

Self, who met with his new players Sunday night, has made a positive impression on them.

"We are going to come back with a lot of fire. I feel comfortable, it is a good first impression," said sophomore forward Wayne Simien, who joined other members of the team in the front row of the auditorium. "It is good to know we have one of the best coaches around."

The new coach has also been busy trying to contact

Self signed a five-year contract for about $1 million per year. Kansas will also have to pay Illinois $500,000 for a buyout clause in his contract there.

Southwest Missouri State coach Barry Hinson, who has known Self since high school and who worked with him at Oral Roberts, said he's one of the few men who could follow Williams at Kansas.

"There's probably only two or three guys in the country who could do it. Bill's definitely one of them," Hinson said. "I wouldn't want to name the other two because it would take me some time to research it."

One reason Self has always been successful, said Hinson, is his "chameleon personality."

"He can fit into any circumstance or situation," Hinson said. "He can be a city guy. He can be country. If he needs to be a street-wise guy, he's a street-wise guy. He's just got a great way of handling himself and communicating with young people and adults as well. His communication skills are extraordinary."

 

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