NCAA Basketball: Ranking the last 25 national title winning head coaches
By Joey Loose
Whether at Tulsa, Illinois or Kansas, Bill Self has coached a team to the last 21 NCAA Tournaments, an impressive feat. He’s become known as an impressive recruiter and excellent scheming on both interior offense and defense. Despite this consistency and success, there are only three Final Fours on Self’s resume and just that one title-winning Kansas team.
The Oklahoma native played and briefly worked for Oklahoma State before getting his first shot as head coach at Oral Roberts in 1993. He improved their win totals from 6 to 21 in just four seasons before leading Tulsa to the Elite Eight in 2000.
He’d next spend three seasons at Illinois, recruiting a team that would play for the national championship in 2005, two seasons after he left for Kansas. Next season will be his 17th year with the Jayhawks, and it’s certainly been a successful run.
There have been a few Tournament upsets (Bucknell, Northern Iowa, etc.), but Self has consistently built a championship contender every year. He’s taken the Jayhawks as far as the Elite Eight in eight of those seasons, though that 2008 championship team stands out.
Mario Chalmers and the Jayhawks scored an impressive title game win over Memphis. Final Four runs followed in 2012 and 2018, but many consider it a disappointment that Kansas boasts just one title during Self’s tenure.
Regardless of those expectations, it would be foolish to consider Self’s run at Kansas anything but a success. The man has shown that he can recruit and just won 15 straight Big 12 regular-season titles, though the streak ended in 2018.
As long as Self is at Kansas, the Jayhawks will remain a national power and in the championship conversation every season. If he can continue to shape talent, a second championship might be in the cards for him and his Kansas program.