The Kansas basketball season has ended. Kansas lost on a buzzer-beater to St. John's, sending the Red Storm to the Sweet 16 and the Jayhawks home.
After the game, Kansas coach Bill Self spoke about his future, amid retirement speculation due to health issues, according to Dan Wolken of Yahoo Sports.
“I’ll get back and get with family and visit and see what’s going on,” Self said. “I love what I do. I need to be able to do it where I’m feeling good and healthy to do it fairly well, so I’ll get back home and it’ll all be discussed.”
Self has been the head coach at Kansas since the 2003-04 season, after spending time at Oral Roberts, Tulsa, and Illinois. He began his coaching career at Kansas as an assistant from 1985-86. He led Kansas to a National Championship in 2021-22, but since then, it has been a struggle. Kansas has been eliminated in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament each of the last four seasons.
Self was hospitalized earlier this season due to a chest issue, an issue he has experienced before. This year, Jacque Vaughn led Kansas to victory in his absence. Meanwhile, Self spoke about the issue, per Jeff Borzello of ESPN.
“I'm feeling much better and I want to thank the well-wishers and the great team at LMH Health,” Self said in a prepared statement before the game. “I'll be sitting out tonight's game, and as I've said before, we have an elite coaching staff at KU, and I know our players are in good hands in Boulder. Jacque Vaughn will serve as the acting head coach tonight. He will rely on our great group of coaches, Jeremy Case, Kurtis Townsend, Joe Dooley and Tony Bland, throughout the game to lead the team.”
Overall, Self has led Kansas to the NCAA Tournament every season he has been there, minus 2020 when the tournament was cancelled. He has also been to the Final Four three times and won the National Championship twice. He will now weigh his future with the Jayhawks.
