KU’s Self wins AP coach of year
Kansas coach Bill Self took a long look at the college basketball coach of the year trophy he received Friday from The Associated Press and wondered how he would ever get through airport security on the way home.
“Don’t worry, we’ll ship it to you,” AP national college basketball writer Jim O’Connell told Self.
Self picked up quite a bit of hardware Friday morning as he toured the awards circuit at the Final Four. His day began at the Detroit Athletic Club, where he was presented the Henry Iba Coach of the Year award at the annual U.S. Basketball Writers Association breakfast. Then he traveled to the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center, where the AP held its awards ceremony.
Just a few days shy of the anniversary of KU’s national championship victory over Memphis in San Antonio, Self was honored for directing the Jayhawks to a 27-8 record, winning the Big 12 regular-season title for the fifth straight season, and advancing the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Kansas did all that after losing the five starters from the championship team. Guard Sherron Collins and center Cole Aldrich were the only returning veterans and Self blended their talents with those of eight newcomers.
“This has been a very rewarding year for me personally and for our staff,” Self said as he accepted the AP award. “Expectations probably weren’t high. I don’t think this was a hall-pass year, but certainly expectations weren’t as high and our guys did perform at a pretty high level. But I would trade this award, as great as it is, for having a chance to cut down the nets again on Monday night.”
Self, 169-40 in six seasons at Kansas, won the AP award by an impressive margin. He received 28 votes from the same 71-member national media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25. Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon was second with 10 votes and John Calipari, who left Memphis earlier this week to coach at Kentucky, received nine votes.
“Early in the season, I thought beating Washington and doing everything but beat Syracuse, was important,” Self said. “Jim (Boeheim) even told me he owes me dinner. But I thought we played at a really high level. We got off to a good start in the league but after we beat Baylor, I thought we can (mess) around and win the league. For that team to go 14-2, to me, is unbelievable.”
Self receives a $50,000 bonus for the AP award, based on incentives in his 10-year contract signed last year. He was also named Big 12 coach of the year and received national honors from the Sporting News, Yahoo! Sports, AthlonSports.com and NBCSports.com.