Printable Biography of Bill Self

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In Bill Self's five seasons as head coach at Kansas he has won four regular-season Big 12 titles, three league tournament championships and the 2008 NCAA Championship while leading this years team to a 37-3 record.. He was named the eighth head coach in Kansas basketball history on April 21, 2003.

In his 14 seasons as a head coach, Self has compiled an overall record of 312-134 (.700), including a 105-29 (.772) record in his four years at Kansas. He has posted a 16-9 mark in NCAA Tournament play and including 2006-07, has guided his teams to nine-straight 20-win seasons and 10 overall. Self has won seven league crowns in the last nine years, including three straight at KU, with the other two seasons resulting in runner-up finishes. He won his 300th career game at Missouri (92-74) on Feb. 10, 2007.

Self is a four-time finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award (2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003), and The Sporting News named him National Coach of the Year in 2000. In addition, Self is one of four coaches in NCAA Division I history to have led three different teams - Tulsa, Illinois and Kansas - to the NCAA Elite Eight. He has advanced Kansas to the NCAA Elite Eight twice, in 2004 and 2007.

In 2006-07, Self won his third-straight and seventh league title as a head coach - two titles at Tulsa (1999, 2000), two at Illinois (2001, 2002) and three at Kansas (2005, 2006, 2007). Self was named the 2006 Big 12 Coach of the Year and finished fourth in the `06 Associated Press Coach of the Year voting.

A member of the USA Basketball Competition Committee and board member for the National Association of Basketball Coaches, Self has coached three league player(s) of the year in the last seven seasons. At Kansas, Wayne Simien was the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2005. At Illinois, Self's Big Ten Player(s) of the Year included Frank Williams in 2001 and Brian Cook in 2003. In all, Self has coached 32 all-conference selections in 10 years of league competition.

In the 2007-2008 season, Self's Kansas team won the Big 12 regular season title and the Big 12 conference tourney. They received a number one seeding in NCAA Tournament in the MidWest division. On March 30, 2008, Self lead Kansas to a win in an Elite Eight game over upstart Davidson College. KU won by two, 59-57. The Jayhawks played overall number 1 tournament seed North Carolina in the semifinals, defeating them 84-66. They then triumphed over Memphis to claim the national title in a 75-68 overtime victory in the NCAA Championship Game on April 7, 2008.

The 2006-07 season was not only historic for Kansas basketball but also in the career of Self. As KU won its 50th conference title and 1,900th all-time victory, Self won his 300th career game with a road victory at Missouri. Additionally, KU was preseason No. 1 by Sports Illustrated and was ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 for most of the season.

Self was named the 2006 Big 12 Coach of the Year after guiding Kansas to a 25-8 record. KU entered the 2005-06 season unranked and with less than 15 percent returning scoring and rebounding, yet Self orchestrated the Jayhawks to a 15-2 record in its last 17 games, including a Big 12 Tournament championship to go along with its league's regular-season title.

In 2004-05, Kansas not only won a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship, but also opened the season ranked No. 1 nationally in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' polls. KU was ranked in the top 10 for all but the final poll of 2004-05.

In his inaugural season at Kansas - 2003-04 - Self guided the Jayhawks to 24 wins and the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. He tied former KU head coach Dick Harp for the most wins by a first-year KU coach, and only Harp's 1956-57 team - which advanced to the NCAA title game - went further under a first-year coach than Self's Elite Eight squad.

Self came to KU from the University of Illinois, where he guided the Fighting Illini to a 78-24 record over three seasons, including two Big Ten regular-season championships, a Big Ten tournament title and three straight NCAA tourney appearances. In Self's first season in Champaign, the Illini advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.

The 2002 Illini's 26-9 record was then the third-most wins as Illinois advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tourney for the second straight year. In his first season at Illinois, Self became just the ninth head coach in Big Ten history to win a league title in his first season, as the Illini shared it with Michigan State.

Prior to his stint at Illinois, Self coached at Tulsa from 1998 to 2000, where he led the Golden Hurricane to a record of 74-27 in three seasons, including trips to the NCAA Tournament in 1999 and 2000. Tulsa went 32-5 in 2000, setting a school single-season record for victories and made the NCAA Elite Eight.

Self began his head coaching career at Oral Roberts, where he resurrected the program. Before Self took over the reins, ORU had compiled the worst record in the program's history with a 5-22 mark in 1992-93. Although Self's first ORU team managed just six victories in 1993-94, the win total increased to 10 the following year. In his third season at the helm, Self guided the Golden Eagles to an 18-9 record. In 1996-97, ORU registered a 21-7 mark and made the school's first postseason tournament appearance since 1983-84, receiving an invitation to the NIT.

Prior to his appointment at ORU, Self spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State University. He originally joined the Cowboys' staff for the 1986-87 season and spent the next four years working under then-OSU head coach Leonard Hamilton. In the three seasons prior to his arrival at ORU, Self served as an assistant on Eddie Sutton's staff at OSU.

Before Oklahoma State, Self spent the 1985-86 season on Larry Brown's coaching staff at Kansas. While Self was at KU, the Jayhawks registered a 35-4 record and advanced to the Final Four.

A native of Edmond, Okla., Self competed in basketball at Oklahoma State where he was a four-year letterwinner from 1982 to 1985. He received his bachelor's degree in business in 1985 and a master's degree in athletic administration in 1989, both from OSU.

He and his wife, Cindy, have two children: daughter, Lauren, and son, Tyler.