The end of a fabled coaching era is approaching for KU basketball…
So says sports scribe Craig Glazer. That after Kansas coach Bill Self‘s rumored marital woes and comments this week indicating that he may be open to an offer to coach in the NBA.
“Wow. He sounded very interested,” Glazer says. “But you know, in defense of Bill Self, he’s given KU a decade and he’s already arguably the best coach KU has ever had.
“You want me to be honest? I think if Bill can get back to a title game and win it – and that could happen this year – I think he could be done at KU. I mean, can you blame the guy? They’re going to pay him a truckload of money. My gut is he’s going to leave KU within three years and it could be this year.”
Self let the cat out of the bag in an interview in the Oklahoman Monday.
“The pros have not tempted Self because no one has talked to him about it. But at some point and time, Self says, he thinks coaching in the NBA would be a challenge he might enjoy,” the headline reads.
“That was his announcement that he’s interested,” Glazer says. “I mean, he didn’t just say, ‘I’m happy to be at KU,’ did he? And there are some big coaching jobs coming up in the NBA – The Lakers – they’re a storied team that’s a little bit rudderless right now. The Knicks job, maybe. And Bill’s just loved by everyone except MU fans. And he’s 50, can you blame him? He’s already proved himself in the NCAA.”
Oh and as Steve Jobs liked to say, and one more thing…
“And also his marriage is (rumored to be) shaky,” Glazer says. “I mean, Johnny Damon used to talk to me about wanting to get a divorce and then he used his leaving Kansas City and the Royals as an excuse to get his divorce.”
Lawrence and sports talk radio were on fire this past winter with rumors of Self having played the field and being on the outs with his wife.
“I mean, no one’s talked a lot about those rumors,” Glazer says. “I don’t think it ever got into the media, but if that’s going to happen – if he’s going to get divorced – that might be another reason he would leave sooner rather than later…
“We saw that with (former Chiefs coach) Marty Schottenheimer. Marty left town, then did some TV and then he was coaching another team. I mean, when you’re 50 and banging some girl that’s younger, it’s hard to go back to your wife. I mean, it’s sad. But you have a celebrity husband who’s a media darling in the Midwest and certainly a pleasant-looking, if not nice-looking guy. And his wife is older (now) and (if) he’s out with younger women with youthful figures and the excitement, the older wife is a dead duck. It’s very unfair, but it’s a cruel reality of life.”
Even a Final Four appearance this year for KU could spark Self’s exit, Glazer says.
“They’ve got some great players and a great coach and KU certainly is potentially a Final Four team,” Glazer says. “if KU goes to the Final Four and the right opportunity in the NBA is there, I think he’s gone. And you can’t be mad at him.
“The good news for Kansas is, you’re Kansas. You had Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Bill Self. So they’re going to be able to pick a successor – they’ll have their choice. So KU will probably continue to be a great program.”
Another possible reason Self might want to leave Lawrence is, “Right now Bill carries this element of a Mayberry, Henry Fonda image,” Glazer says. “That common man image Kansas City’s in love with. But if he gets divorced and then starts dating really young women that are hotties in Lawrence, it’s going to be noticed. And that’s not good because it’s not Andy from Mayberry. But if he does that in New York, LA or Chicago – especially if his team is good – they’ll just think he’s cool. In those cities, 50 is the new 30.”
oh boy…if hearnes comments section doesn’t hit 100 on this story!!!!
I think you’re making too much from his comments about the nba…whole
different ball game than college….and I think he’s getting 5 million a
year…that’s not easy to walk away from.
but with nba you get several months of down time…in college its 24/7
every day with recruiting/training/long season from October to april…
but I think self stays at ku with all the talent he’s got coming in.
However…the rumors about self’s marriage….there’s rumors floating
around….but when you’re bill self in Kansas temptation can get the best
of you.
nice story…not a single bit of reality to back up any part of it. Just
glazesopinion…which as we’ve seen creates a firestorm of comments.
Actually big guy, don’t forget that I’ve been living here nearly a year now.
Glaze is way more on target than you apparently know. Way, way more.
Harley, there you are! Easing back from being in hiding? You must be spending too much time at Lix, Cox & Likesit filing law suits. I had to come back just to verbally clock you one more time, you assmunch. Thank God I won’t run into you up here, Harlinstein! It’s just us Gentiles and a 24X7 party.
Next thing you know Coach Bill is buying carry out at Capital Grille for all his young hotties. Maybe he just gets a condo at Woodside and a lifetime turnpike pass.
And let’s their offspring watch?
As I’ve suggested elsewhere previously, Self needs to move in with another recent wayward soul, Gary Pinkel, and see if they can get their damn acts together. They could take turns on the cooking, and help each other to lay off the boozin’, the partying, and the young broads — even if their marriages are already finished. Start acting your damn ages, you old coots!
‘Course, if those two were to shack up (speaking purely plutonicly), Pinkel and Self might just act as negative triggers for each other, with the party really getting in full swing from there. So that would be a risk. But I guess I’m more relying on the basic decency and maturity of these men to pull them through together.
Coaches are human, and the throne that the KC media puts KU coaches on is absurd. Look, Roy Williams was no saint either. He is and always has been a hypocritical bastard. His “aw shucks” routine was something that only the local media and blind KU sycophants swallowed. But really, he’s no different than any other college coach when it comes to ethics and morals. Neither is Bill Self. Neither is Bruce Weber. Neither was/is Norm Stewart. Neither is Frank Haith. None of these dudes are morally or ethically untouchable. They’re just basketball coaches. Not genius saints. If Bill is chasing skirts, so be it. That’s his moral conundrum, not mine. I don’t care. What I do know is that the dude is on an almost unprecedented level of winning at KU. And that’s what ultimately matters.
Listen to Al Davis over here!
I agree.
I was just exchanging Roy Williams stories with Craig yesterday.
My story was about how he’s such a phony nice guy with a control freak nature backed up by a scalding hot temper. Craig sat next to him on a flight about 10 or 11 years ago and he spent the entire time being a prima donna and griping about not being able to fly First Class.
Roy Williams’ hypocracy was on a biblical scale. Here’s a guy that was calling the NCAA on other schools, all the while his own athletic department was running around with no one overseeing his own compliance matters, and running a “barnstorming” racket with his senior players getting paid to play games after the basketball season was over and their eligibility had been exhausted. Dude was as flexible as Gumby when it came to ethics, yet had the temerity to rat on everyone else. He is in dire need of an ass kicking to this day.
How did this become a “news story.” Is that all it takes now? Someone speculates as to the meaning of one quote taken out of context and that is “news?” For all the complaining you do about other news sources poor reporting…I believe the word I’m looking for is “irony.”
Easy Hog, this isn’t a hard news story. Who said it was?
However, there’s a lot more to this Bill Self stuff than has been reported.
I’m going to unleash a long delayed story from this past March on Lawrence Confidential pretty soon here.
Check it out.
why would he have to leave to coach an nba team?
with the talent ku has this season they’ve got maybe 7 or 8 nba possible
players suited up!!!!!
Truckloads of $? Does your worthless Scribe realize that the top college coaches already make as much as even the highest paid NBA coaches? And giving them input on personnel decisions…heck, they’re already de facto owners/GMs of their college programs. I’ll never say never to his leaving and I think that’s all Coach Self has ever really hinted at in addressing this issue, but to act like the ill-informed Glazer has any real knowledge of this situation is ridiculous. Monkeys throwing darts are a better predictor. Also very tacky on Confidential’s part to bring up his supposed marriage issues.
Well, tacky or not those issue were HUGE this past spring.
More than you in KC know.
I held off, but since the Scribe has unleashed the Kraken, I’m going to unleash my five month old unpublished column on the topic from this past March.
On Lawrence Confidential where this story broke.
As far as I’m concerned, the sooner Bill Self leaves KU the better. I’m getting rather tired of his sideline antics and seemingly never-ending coach-talk (e.g., “assassin-like mentality” (said of Andrew “One and Done” Wiggins), and furthermore, his highly-rated teams usually end up laying an egg in the Big Dance. He could even go to OSU and it wouldn’t bother me at this point.
how long until you are fully recovered from your lobotomy?
Feet of clay.
The man has become so Self centered.
wait, Craig Glazer is a “sports scribe”?
Did I miss a meeting?
and Self’s outing with his wife is not even news in Lawrence
he’s been living in a separate apartment for a while now.
Not so fast…
That was a rumor – that his wife had kicked him out and he was holing up in a high end condo building a friend or booster owned.
But you’re way behind.
Supposedly he moved back in sometime last Spring.
Thank god we now know that Craig had advance heads-up on Johnny Damon’s divorce. One can only hope that Self consults with Johnny and Craig–and Hearne, too–before pursuing any change in marital status. It will be quite an effort for Douglas County to establish a divorce division in its court system–who knew that divorce is so shocking and frowned-upon that no one has ever dissolved a marriage in Lawrence? KU basketball fans will tolerate nothing less than virtue and integrity from their coach–at least that’s what Larry Brown told me the last time he was visiting Self in Allen Field House.
You hit your head or something, Gerald?
Listen to too many Tull albums perhaps?
First of all, nobody consults me with their divorce issues, come on. Like somebody’s gonna call me so I can air it out for them.
I’ve known Craig’s Johnny Damon story for years and totally believe him.
Back then, Craig was looming large in Westport and lots of Chiefs and Royals players hung out and partied with him. I used to go down to Stanford’s in Westport and he’d hook me up with them. Don’t take that the wrong way, btw.
Like the time I was interviewing Andre Rison and he took my reporters notebook from me and started interviewing me back.
I checked the court records in Douglas, Johnson, Sedgwick and Shawnee at the height of all the talk and nothing had been filed. That’s what I was told anyway.
And while you may think you know Lawrence, trust me, you don’t.
No way Self could undergo a divorce and start hot footing it around town with a bunch of young hotties and keep his rep in tact.
KU fans may have turned a blind eye to the rumors and rationalized them away last winter but this town is far too small for those kind of goings on.
Gawd, does anyone but me remember what Johnny Damon’s first wife looked like? Atrocious. I knew the second he got a big contract he’d dump that troll and upgrade to some broad more befitting his status as a millionaire baseball player. Sure enough, just like clockwork, he did.
I remember
You ever hear the story about how Andre Rison, the piece of human garbage, bankrupted beloved music store Guitar World?
Serg, didn’t he “borrow” a ton of equipment for a party or something and never returned it?
Ding ding ding. Bought my first guitar from them back when Jeff Sheetz was giving lessons there.
They were just a family shop and the 200k of gear he stole bankrupted them.
Self can do what he wants, go to the NBA, whatever, he’s earned that much. But really, why would you want to leave a place where you have TOTAL control over the program? College coaches (mostly football, but at KU, hoops is king) are worshipped on campus and, in Self’s case, as highly compensated as any pro coach. The NBA would be a huge headache, dealing with players who make more money than the coach who is trying to get all of these egos on the same page. Who needs that shit? I think he knows how good he has it where he’s at now.
I don’t get the correlation between Self and Johnny Damon. Damon married his high school sweetheart, both were very young, then he became rich and famous. No surprise that their marriage didn’t last. Self is older, wiser (not difficult – Damon’s no mensa member), and hopefully more mature that he doesn’t require a young, hot piece of ass to feed his ego. But this is coming from someone who’s been married to the same woman for 30 years.
I think you’re entirely right about the Damon-Self comparison. There are similarities though. One was a high school sweetheart, Self’s was a college sweetheart.
And not to be wildly crass, Self did far and away better in the looks department.
However,living in Lawrence the past year where virtually every single man, woman and child that even knew or cared anything about Bill Self was absolutely convinced that he was having an affair with a specific woman, had been kicked out of his house and was holed up at a ritzy condo development, I can tell you there may be other issues at play.
It wasn’t a “young, hot piece of ass” either.
Read my story on Lawrence Confidential for more details.
“And not to be wildly crass, Self did far and away better in the looks department.”
Crass and shallow. Did CG rub off on you or do come by it honestly. Really, you probably use the statement “I am not racist but…”
You seem to think that you are on the inside of Larryville. This isn’t that breathless of an issue as you and your former scribe make it out to be.
Self’s wife is very involved in Lawrence. As opposed to Roy’s wife who kind of did the bare minimum that she could as the head coach’s wife. What’s going on with Bill’s marriage is anybody’s guess. Men make mistakes and there are whole industries such as gems, flowers, cards and anything else one can think of to get back into good graces.
You seem to be building this up, wait forgive me, you will correct me and say it’s not you but the scribe that is building this up out of one little quote from Bill Self. A couple of thoughts.
Bill Self has a system that will not translate to the NBA. Bill Self will not be able to handle egos in the NBA. He does not promise playing time. He demands players earn playing time. This doesn’t work in the NBA. You play the stars regardless because that is what the fans come to see.
I think that Bill Self is smart enough to know this.
Second, if Bill Self does go to the NBA, I doubt it will be because he wants to marry up as you and scribe think. He could marry up (which I doubt he could, maybe he could get a younger model) and still hold on to his job as long as he keeps doing what he does as a coach. His wife is one hell of a woman by all account’s, at least if you judge a woman by a scale on designed by not CG. Think they will work it out. Or not, but the NBA does play into it.
If you have info to refute me, then air it, quit this nonsense of “oh, I have more, just wait for it.” Then we never hear about until you have a bit of a quote, but no real dirt.
It is a bit like Wilson telling us he was going stay on the son shooting his dad in Shawnee. Nothing more out of Wilson. Why? Because there was no more. The judge kept him in custody and now they are trying figure out why this happened. Wilson for all of his bluster, he no more info than I do. Just like you and CG have no more info about Bill Self than I do.
I read this site because it is entertaining but not for the “inside scoop” You just don’t have it. You mostly just provide a place for self important “sources” to promote themselves .
Bubba, let me correct you on something. I AM still on the stalker dude, Kaplan. I’ve been to two hearings so far and they have amounted to 10 second exchanges to set a new date.
Its going to fire up in another 60 days, I’ll be in Court. Sorry, I should have said something sooner, but its far from over.
Not a word about Gary Pinkel’s divorce. And the purported reasons behind it. Not a ****ing word.
Typical.
Sickening, but typical.
He’s not going to the NBA anytime soon.
Rather than coach an NBA team, he may coach NBA players as the next USA Basketball head coach for the World Championships and Olympics.
Speculating about a possible departure by Bill Self to the NBA is fair game for any member of the ‘media’. But bringing up, or bringing in, dirty laundry from his personal life? Or, more accurately, allegations of such? Definitely not. At least it shouldn’t be. To any responsible journalist, that is.
Here’s a thought, Hearne — use your “unpublished column on the subject” to put on your resume to give to Harvey Levin at TMZ. It’s his kind of story. Don’t you think?
I heard through the old men in the know that Self knocked up a young lady (a while back). Sure would explain part of this.
Bill is a creep. The rumors are true and for those of you who say you could care less about Bill’s extra marital escapades? Would you feel the same if it changed your children’s childhoods fore ever?