The inventor of Basketball, Dr. James Naismith, joined the
KU faculty in 1898, and fielded the first Jayhawk team in 1898-99.
Since then, KU has a 101 year record of 1,712 wins and 734 losses, and
overall percentage of 70%. Only North Carolina and Kentucky have won more games than Kansas.
Former KU players Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp helped coach those teams to
their record highs.
Roy Williams is KU’s all-time winningest coach,
percentage-wise, with %.
Phog Allen, of course, leads in total wins with 590, an average of over
15 per season in an era when the average season was only 20 games.
W.O. Hamilton’s first team went 18-1, for KU’s best season
percent-wise, followed by his 1913-14 team which went 17-1.
Ironically, Naismith is the only KU coach to have a losing
record.
| RANK | COACH | YEARS | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. |
| 1 | Roy Williams | 15 (89-03 | 418 | 101 | 80.5 |
| 2 | Larry Brown | 5 (84-88) | 135 | 44 | 75.4 |
| 3 | Bill Self | 2 (04-05) | 47 | 16 | 74.6 |
| 4 | Phog Allen | 39 (08-09,20-56) | 590 | 219 | 72.9 |
| 5 | W.O.Hamilton | 10 (10-19) | 125 | 59 | 67.9 |
| 6 | Ted Owens | 19 (65-83) | 348 | 182 | 65.7 |
| 7 | Dick Harp | 8 (57-64) | 121 | 82 | 59.6 |
| 8 | James Naismith | 9 (98-07) | 55 | 60 | 47.8 |
Karl Schlademan* (20) 1 0 100.0
Howard Engleman**
(47)
8
6
57.1
* Schlademan coached the first game of the 1919-20 season, but quit after first game to concentrate as head track coach. Phog Allen, who was Athletic Director at the time, took over.
** Asst. Coach Engleman finished out the season, as Allen was ordered by his physician to take a rest after the January 17, 1947 game with Missouri.