Bill Self Bombshell

The Tulsa World’s Berry Tramel dropped a bombshell on the Big 12 late last week. 

With Kansas basketball mired in arguably the worst stretch of the Bill Self era, Tramel tweeted a story claiming Self seriously considered leaving the Jayhawks to take the Oklahoma State job last offseason. 

I realize how ridiculous that sounds on the surface, but let me point out a couple of things. 

Oklahoma State is home for Self. He’s an OSU grad who played for the Cowboys from 1981-1985 and admitted that he considered taking that job in 2008, right after winning his first national title. 

Tramel is also far from some clickbait hack. He’s one of the longest-tenured and most well-respected journalists covering the league. He isn’t somebody who built a career on throwing things at the wall. 

If you’re trying to build a case for why Self might legitimately consider an offer like that, it goes something like this. 

Self is a victim of his own success at Kansas. The fan base is down on him after two subpar (by his hall-of-fame standards) seasons, the worst of which will still likely result in a top-six seed in the NCAA tournament. He could go back home and instantly become a beloved figure who would be celebrated for landing a six seed in the tourney. It sounds like a less stressful situation for a 62-year-old head coach with a history of heart issues. 

Self certainly downplayed that he had any legitimate interest in the job at his Friday press conference, which is the only way to handle the inevitable questions about the article, no matter what the truth is. Only Self knows how seriously he took the Cowboys’ offer, and nobody I know has truth serum to pass along to him to get the honest answer.  

But to me, that’s not the main question here. The question that really matters is, would Self legitimately consider moving on in the next couple of years?

Moving on most likely means retirement. It seems doubtful that another college job would offer the right set of circumstances to lure him away, and the NBA doesn’t feel like a great fit at this stage in his career. 

While a specific subset of the Jayhawk fan base would celebrate a retirement announcement, they’re incredibly foolish (at best). The odds of Kansas’ next coach being as successful as Self are slim. They’d get their pick of almost anybody they want, but after back-to-back impeccable hires in Self and Roy Williams, the odds are stacked against making that kind of magic happen again. 

It would also be bad news for the Big 12 as a whole if Self were to call it quits in the near future. 

It’s no secret that Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark wants to decouple the Big 12 basketball TV rights to sell them separately from football to make more money. Pulling in more dough becomes a lot tougher if Kansas isn’t, well, Kansas. 

The Jayhawks are easily the biggest brand in the conference, regardless of how much Kelvin Sampson continues to win at Houston. Yormark needs Kansas to consistently perform at an elite level to maximize his product. 

This could all seem like a very silly conversation a month from now. I’m not counting out a run to the second weekend or beyond from Self and the Jayhawks this March. In the wake of the Tramel article, Kansas played inspired basketball on Saturday. 

But another tough season, mounting fan frustrations, and an insinuation that Self may have been looking around last offseason have put Self’s future plans on my radar for now.

What You Need to Know

• Did you know that Arkansas was almost a Big 12 school? Check out the story of how the Big Eight nearly kicked K-State out to replace them with the Razorbacks. It’s actually pretty surprising this didn’t happen. 

• Houston has all but wrapped up the Big 12 regular season basketball title. The Cougars’ 68-59 win over Iowa State, combined with Arizona’s controversial loss to BYU (more on that in a moment), gives them a three-game lead with four games left in the regular season. 

• BYU stunned Arizona 96-95 in a wild game that came down to the final possession. Cougars forward Richie Saunders hit two go-ahead free throws with 3.2 seconds left after a very controversial foul call that left Arizona fans (rightfully, in my humble opinion) incredibly frustrated. 

• No matter what you think about the foul call, it was an incredibly impressive effort by the surging Cougars to put up 90+ points in a harsh road environment against a top-20 team. The popular Field of 68 podcast says BYU is the most dangerous unranked team in the country right now.  

• Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark went to bat for the league on College Gameday. He says there’s never been a better time for the league and defended the Big 12’s honor as the best basketball conference in the country. 

• Utah AD Mark Harlan seems to be changing his tune on the Big 12. In his post-Holy War rant in November, he said, “We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight I am not.” Harlan was much kinder to the league in this interview with KSL. He also dropped a great nugget on Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham.

Enjoying Open For Business? It would mean the world to me if you could share the newsletter with three of your friends who want Big 12 news without SEC or Big Ten bias. Tell them to sign up at OFBNews.com and get started today!